


Lover Boy

by luvrboyrichie



Category: IT, IT - Stephen King, Stephen King - Fandom
Genre: Cussing, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, I'll probably add more tags as the story progresses, IT - Freeform, Kinda, Richie Tozier is a Little Shit, Romance, Slow Burn, long chapters, lots of flirting, obviously, oh also youre in high school, reader and bev are good friends, richie tozier x fem!reader, richie tozier x reader - Freeform, sexual innuendos as well, slight AU, stephen king IT, you'll be close right away but probably won't kiss or anything for a little bit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2020-10-27 03:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20753759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvrboyrichie/pseuds/luvrboyrichie
Summary: Summer has just begun in Derry, Maine, and you're new in town. You think your Summer is going to be mind-numbing without any friends, but that all changes when you meet the Losers Club. After all, how could your Summer be boring when you have a romance with Richie Tozier?





	1. Chapter 1

Summer had begun in Derry, Maine, and you were bored out of your fucking mind. You and your parents had just moved there, the very beginning of Summer, and already you could tell it was going to be long. Maybe you should have taken up your parents on their request to move a week before Summer was over, so you could attend Derry High School and meet some people, but it was too late to do anything about that now. _Hindsight’s 20/20, I guess._  
You lay in your bed, the warm breeze wafting through your window. Your head lulled to the side, and you looked out at the bright blue sky. You had gotten dressed and put makeup on, planning to go for a bike ride around the town and become more familiar with it (it’s not like you had anything better to do), but after getting ready you flopped on to your bed. After today, what were you going to do? Maybe you were just going to have to spend this summer finding yourself, or some stupid shit. Pick up some new hobbies and try some new things. Hell, maybe you’d look for a part-time job. If you didn’t, your entire Summer was going to be spent in the state you were in now: laying in your bed, staring out the window.  
You picked yourself up and smoothed out your clothes. You grabbed your small backpack from the floor and slung it over your shoulders, heading out.  
You never bothered to tell your parents you were leaving, as you had already mentioned you planned on going out today, and you decided they could figure that out themselves. You grabbed your (f/c) bike from the side of the house, hopped on, and headed out.  
  
You didn’t live too far from downtown, so you decided that was the safest bet for now. It would be difficult to get lost down here. You noted a couple of places that would be interesting to check out - a library, an arcade, a park, and there was some big river you biked past too, but the thought of going down there by yourself made you a little uneasy. You also probably wouldn’t have been able to take your bike, due to the steepness.  
You pulled up to the park and stopped, admiring the view before you. There wasn’t really any playset, no swings or anything, but there were lots of trees, a couple of benches, and a large statue of Paul Bunyan. It looked like a nice place, and you noticed a handful of people walking through - notably, a couple that looked around your age. It was a girl and a boy, and right away you knew what drew your gaze towards them was the short, fiery red hair on the girl’s head. As if she felt your stare, her head turned towards you. Quickly you pretended to be looking at something else, your eyes wandering around for a moment before landing on her again. She was still staring back at you. You hesitated, a million thoughts racing through your mind. Should you say something? Bike away? Wave? What if they’re mean? Why is she coming over here?  
“Hey!” The red-haired girl waved at you, jogging over. “I’ve never seen you around before.” She said, the boy beside her visibly uncomfortable. You cleared your throat, “I just moved here, actually. We finally finished unpacking so I thought I’d come check out the town.” This girl seemed nice, but you were still a little nervous. Was it too good to be true? Were you actually managing to make a friend?  
“Do you know anybody here?” She asked. “No,” you answered honestly. “Just this morning I was wishing we moved earlier so I could’ve gone to school for a bit and got to know some people.” “Well,” she stuck out her hand. “I’m Beverly Marsh. This is Bill Denbrough. There, now you know some people.” She smiled. You shook her hand, smiling back. “I’m Y/N L/N. Thank you.” You immediately cursed yourself for thanking her. _That was kind of pathetic,_ you thought. _Thanking her for what, being your friend?_ She didn’t seem to acknowledge it. “We were just heading down to the Barrens actually, did you want to join? We’re meeting up with the rest of the Losers, that way you can get to know even more people.” “Uh, yeah, sure!” You said, deciding against asking about who the Losers were. “Thank you. Um, where’s the Barrens?” For the first time, the boy spoke up. “The B-Barrens are that big river. We like to h-hang out down there.” “We should show her the Clubhouse!” Beverly said to Bill. Before you had a chance to react, she was speaking again. “Let’s get going.”  
  
The walk there was nice. It wasn’t too far anyways, but Beverly and Bill both seemed really nice, and kept asking you questions and keeping you engaged in the conversation. When there was a lull in the conversation, you took the opportunity to ask about the Losers. “Oh! Yeah, sorry, I never really elaborated on that, huh? Well, there’s seven of us, including Bill and I. I’ll get them to introduce themselves to you when we get there. They’re like us, they’re all really nice people.” Bev answered. Bill seemed deep in thought for a moment, then added, “Richie will p-p-probably try and hit on you. D-Don’t worry about it, he’s like that with ever-everyone.” You nodded. Richie? You weren’t sure what to think. Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad if he were cute, but if he’s like that with everyone, then you also didn’t really want any part in it. It seemed like a setup for heartbreak.  
You didn’t realize until now that you were getting closer to voices. You couldn’t make out what anyone was saying, but it continued to get louder. Finally, a group of boys, also all around your age, came into view. The Losers.  
Immediately, all of their eyes fell on you. You swallowed, suddenly feeling very nervous, but you kept walking forwards with Bill and Bev. You were glad you had your bike to hold on to and distract you from the five boys. “Quit staring, you creeps.” Bev finally piped up, and the group seemed to snap out of their trance. “Dibs.” Said a boy with huge square glasses and a Hawaiian shirt. The group seemed to collectively groan. “Beep beep, Richie.” Sighed a boy with curly hair. “Yeah, you’re going to scare her away, idiot!” Added another, a boy with a fanny pack around his waist. “G-Guys, this is Y/N,” Bill said once you were stopped. “Introduce yourselves.”  
You took note of who must’ve been Richie, the one who Bill said would flirt with you. And, man, he _was_ cute. The disheveled brown hair and big brown eyes were enough to fit your type exactly, but the _glasses_, and even the way he dressed - he was your type to a T. And you were a sucker for sweet talk. This was absolutely a recipe for your heart to get broken.  
The boys took turns introducing themselves. Mike, Ben, Stan, Eddie, and finally- “Richie Tozier. Don’t forget it, babe.” He winked. When Bill said Richie would be flirty, you had no idea it would be this intense. “We’re the Losers Club.” Said Stan, ignoring Richie. “How come we’ve never seen you around before?” “Yeah,” Richie jumped in. “I think I’d remember an ass like that if I saw it.” Eddie quickly reached over and smacked Richie upside the head. Like Stan did earlier, you also decided to ignore Richie. “I just moved here, actually.” You told them. “Today’s the first day that I haven’t had to unpack, and I ran into Beverly and Bill while I was biking around town. They invited me to come here with them.” “Well, you’re free to hang out with us whenever.” Stan said. You smiled, looking at the group again. Maybe this Summer wasn’t going to be so long and lonely after all.


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn’t long after that the group decided to head towards the clubhouse. You were walking beside Ben. “I used to be the new kid, too.” He said to me. “Really?” I replied. “When did you move here?”   
“It’s been a couple of years now.” He said. “Bev was the first person I met, too. I’m really glad they took me in.”  
You smiled. “Me, too. I was scared I was going to spend the whole summer alone.”   
“That’s what I was worried about when I first moved here too! My first Summer here I was worried that I was going to be spending it alone at the library. I ran into everyone by chance and the rest is history.”  
You decided to change the subject. “So, what’s the Clubhouse like?”  
“Oh, I built it.” He said rather nonchalantly. “Well, not totally. It’s underground - the hole was already dug out - and I just added to it. We hang out there a lot, it’s a nice place away from everything.” He paused for a moment, then yelled out, “Stan! You didn’t happen to buy an extra shower cap, did you?” He was walking ahead of us, and turned to face us. “Oh, uh, no. I hadn’t really thought about anyone else coming.” “We don’t need those stupid fucking shower caps, anyways, Stan!” Richie said. “_I’ve_ never gotten any spiders in my hair.” “Yeah, but look how long her hair is!” Eddie replied. “I think she has a higher chance of getting them than any of us.” You touched your hair absentmindedly. _Spiders? _“The only thing she has a higher chance of getting than anyone else in the group is this dick.”  
“Well, you can wear Richie’s.” Stan said, quickly cutting Richie off. “He never wears it anyways.” You smiled gratefully, ignoring Richie’s crude comment yet again.   
Ben quietly said to you, “don’t mind him, he’s like that all the time. I’m sure it’ll die down once you hang out with us more. You can tell him to piss off, too, you know. Just say ‘beep beep’. That shuts him up.” You nodded. “Thanks. I don’t mind it all that much though.” Ben seemed surprised by this, but never called you out for it.  
“Oh, we’re here!” Bev said. She reached down into the grass, grabbed hold of something, and lifted a door open. “Woah!” You said. It was completely hidden, you’d have never seen it. She started backing down into it, and the rest of the Losers followed close behind. You pushed your bike over, and went down last.  
  
The clubhouse was impressive, considering it was just Ben who built it. There were walls, pillars, all kinds of reinforcements. On top of that, some furniture and fun things. There were posters, comic books, shelves with different knick-knacks on them, and even a hammock, which Richie was already laying in. Stan walked up to you, handing you a shower cap. “So spiders don’t get in your hair.” He said sheepishly. You thanked him and pulled it over your head. “Oh my _God,_ Y/N.” Richie said as soon as the shower cap was on. “Not you too.” “What? I don’t want spiders in my hair.” You replied. Richie simply shook his head and went back to the comic he was reading.   
“So, what do you think?” Bev said, pulling you away from the other boys and sitting down on the ground with you. “I can’t believe Ben built this!” You replied. “It’s so cool down here, it must be so nice to have your own little place away from everyone else.”  
Bev shook her head, lighting a cigarette. “Not of the clubhouse, silly. The Losers.” “Oh!” You felt embarrassed. “I really like them.” You turned to look at everyone, your eyes lingering on Richie for a moment, before you quickly turned back to Bev. “You’re all so nice and cool, I’m glad I ran into you.”   
She smiled. “I’m glad we ran into you too, kid.” She took a deep drag from her cigarette, and a look of concern appeared on her face for a moment. “What do you think of Trashmouth?” She gestured to Richie. When you turned to face him, you saw Eddie trying to wrestle him off the hammock. “I don’t mind him.”  
“Really? The shit he says doesn’t bother you?” She asked.  
You shook your head. “No. It’s kinda funny.”  
Bev shrugged. “Alright, then. But don’t be afraid to tell him off.”  
“Oh, yeah. Ben told me about that. Uh, it was ‘beep beep’, right?” You asked.  
Bev smiled. “That’s exactly it.”  
After that Ben came and sat down with the two of you, and you all chatted for a little while. At one point you got up to leave the two of them alone, wandering around the clubhouse a little bit. You went to the where the comic books and magazines were, which was right beside the hammock, which Mike was laying in. “Do you want a turn?” He said to you. “I think my ten minutes are almost up anyways.” “Oh, sure!” You said, grabbing a random book off the top of the pile. “Is that the rule? Ten minutes?” You asked as he got up. “Yup.” He replied, and you laid down.  
Relaxing in the hammock didn’t last for long. You had just gotten comfortable and opened up the book - a Justice League comic - when you felt a weight at the other end of the hammock. “H-Hey!” You accidentally dropped the comic on your face. You pulled it off and sat up on your elbows, looking at what the disturbance could possibly be. You shouldn’t have been surprised when you saw Richie sitting across from you. “Hey, hot stuff.” He smiled.  
You threw the comic book at him. “I just got on here!” You protested. “You’re pretty feisty, huh?” Richie smirked. “You like that in bed, too?”  
Before, you had just ignored him. This time, however, you felt you were forced to reply, especially now that no one was around to hit him or change the subject. “There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there, Tozier?” You said with a shit-eating grin. For a second, you could tell you threw him off his groove. His jaw dropped slightly, before he blinked and caught himself. “Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?” Before you could answer, you heard Bill. “Richie, leave Y/N alone.”   
“It’s alright, Bill.” You smiled. “Thank you.” He shrugged and turned back to what he was doing.   
You crossed your arms. “Are you gonna keep pestering me?”   
“After what you just said, yes.” Richie replied.   
You sighed dramatically. “What am I gonna do?”   
“Well, you could fuck me.”  
The amusement on Richie’s face was evident. Judging by the rest of the Losers’ reactions to him, he probably never gets banter like this from anyone. You were surprised yourself that you were dishing it back to him, if you were being honest.  
“I guess.” You shrugged. “Maybe if you didn’t waste my hammock time.”   
“Hey, I’m doing you a favour!” He pointed at you. “Since there’s two of us, we’ll get twenty minutes instead of just ten! The only catch is you have to share with me.”  
“Sounds like the opposite of a problem.” You replied.  
He stared at you for a moment, studying your face. You didn’t break eye contact. “I like you.” He said matter-of-factly. You knew he didn’t mean it in a _like-like_ way. More of a “I appreciate your humour” type of way.  
“Yeah, I know.” You replied, pressing your foot into his cheek. He shoved your leg away and you giggled.   
You glanced over to see what the rest of the Losers were doing, and you noticed Bev staring at you and Richie. She wiggled her eyebrows at you, before looking away, so you had no chance to shoot her a look back.  
“So, where’d you come from?” Richie asked.  
You diverted your attention back to him. “(your hometown).” You said.  
“Woah! That’s so far.” He replied. “What made you move out here?”  
“My parents. My mom had to move for her job, and my dad had been through just about every job within a four-hour radius. So, we thought it’d be good to get a fresh start. She’s never had to move for her job before, so I’m hoping it doesn’t happen again. There were a few select people from the branch she worked at that had to relocate, she just happened to be one of them.”  
“Well, I think that’s pretty lucky for us.” Richie replied.   
“And why’s that?” You asked.  
“Because we got a pretty girl to join our crew.”  
You blushed. Your blushing embarrassed you, which probably turned you even more red. Richie definitely noticed.  
“Are you blushing, Y/N? Oh man!” He said, amused.  
You didn’t know why it made you blush. He had been hitting on you since the moment you met him, so why this? Perhaps because it was... _softer_, it felt genuine. Everything else he’d said had been so crude and sexual, but being called pretty felt tender.  
“Shut up, Richie!” You reached forwards and snatched his glasses off his face.   
“Hey!” He sat up, and you felt the hammock swing wildly beneath you two. You giggled and put his glasses on, so you would be able to wrestle him off of you when he came to retrieve his glasses. The world became a blurry haze once the glasses were on. Richie crawled on top of you, straddling your waist and reaching for you, his squinted eyes trying to see where your face was. Him crawling on top of you certainly threw you for a loop, and you sort of froze up. Both his hands were pawing around your face, and you finally pulled yourself out of your distracted state. You grabbed his wrists and pulled them away from you.  
“Hey! Give me my glasses back! I can’t see shit!”  
You giggled. “Then stop being such a tease!”  
Richie struggled against you. “It’s not my fault I’m so irresistible, Y/N!”  
Finally he managed to grab his glasses from your face and put them back on. You blinked a couple times as the world came back into focus. “Aha!” He pointed in your face as he said this, in a “gotcha!” sorta way.  
You were still laughing at your wrestling match, and Richie’s hand began to fall as he watched you laughing, admiring you.  
Once your laughing died down, you called him out for continuing to stare at you.”What?” You pressed.  
“You really are pretty.” He replied.  
Again, the blush rose to your cheeks. This time, it seemed even more sincere than before.  
“Beep beep, Richie!” You said, hoping you were quick enough so that he didn’t catch you blushing at him _again_. You reached up for his glasses, but he caught both your wrists in his hands.  
“Not this time, Princess.” He smiled.  
You blinked, staring at him. A moment passed, and you two continued to stare at each other. You opened your mouth to say something, but got interrupted.  
“Okay, I don’t care if it’s been ten minutes or twenty minutes or whatever, I’m going to throw up if you two canoodle on there any longer.” Both you and Richie snapped your heads towards the owner of the voice. Eddie.  
“Jealous, Eds?” Richie grinned, his fingers still wrapped around your wrists.  
“Just fucking get off!” Eddie snapped.  
“Fucking cockblock.” Richie murmured under his breath as he crawled off of both you and the hammock.   
“Sorry, Eddie.” You smiled sheepishly, crawling off yourself. You brushed yourself off as you stood up, and when you looked over at Richie, he was already staring at you. He winked, and you shoved him. You both laughed, then heard Stan make an announcement to the group. “It’s getting late, guys. There’s only an hour until 7, we should probably head out.” Everyone just sort of looked at each other, nodding. “Meet at the Kissing B-Bridge tomorrow?” Bill asked. Again, everyone nodded.  
You spoke up. “Where’s the Kissing Bridge?” You saw Stan open his mouth to answer, but he quickly got cut off by Richie. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow and take you there.”   
“Not a chance.” Bev was quick to respond. “I don’t trust you enough to keep it in your pants, Richie. I’ll take Y/N home tonight and pick her up tomorrow, too.”  
Richie sighed dramatically. “You’re all fucking cockblocks, you know that? Every single one of you!”  
You giggled, and said, “that sounds lovely, Bev.” She smiled at you.  
Richie spoke up, “Well, pip, pip, and cheerio, then. Eddie’s mom will have an aneurysm if he’s late.”   
  
Bev did, in fact, walk you home. Before the Losers had parted ways, however, Richie had kissed your hand and said, “until we meet again.” To which you just blushed and mumbled a quiet “bye Richie”.  
This, obviously, prompted Bev to ask you about what was going on between you two once you were alone. “Well, I dunno. He’s definitely my type, but he’s like that with everyone, is he not? Like, Bill mentioned that he would probably be flirty with me. I know it’s just kinda pointless banter. I just dish it back to him.” You said quickly.  
“You’re sure it doesn’t mean anything?” Bev asked. “I don’t know, N/N. I’ve never seen him be like… _that_ with anyone before. I don’t know.” She shrugged. “There are moments where it seems like he’s only half-joking. But, besides that, I wouldn’t necessarily _recommend_ Richie to anyone to date. He seems kinda closed off from his emotions, and, yeah, he is pretty flirty with everyone. So I don’t know if he’d be able to handle commitment. Though, he hasn’t ever been in a relationship before.”  
This almost made you laugh. “Actually? He hasn’t been able to charm a single person? Some of the shit he comes up with can be pretty smooth.”  
“Actually. The Losers name didn’t come from nowhere, you know. We’re not hugely popular back at school.” Bev remarked. “And no _way_ am I dating Richie!”  
You laughed together, and realized you were nearing your house. “Oh, we’re here!” You exclaimed. You stopped at the end of the driveway. “The one with the red door.” You smiled. “What’s the plan for tomorrow?”  
“Oh, yeah!” Bev said. “We’re gonna be jumping off the cliff near the Kissing Bridge.”   
Your eyes widened.   
“Into the water below, of course. Just don’t be a sissy, you’ll never hear the end of it.” She continued. “They’ll probably make you go first to initiate you into the Losers Club officially. I’ll come get you, say, twelve? Wear a bathing suit!”   
“Yeah, sure, sounds good! See you tomorrow!”  
“Seeya!”  
You walked your bike up your driveway, thinking about what Bev had just said. You were going to be jumping off a cliff into water? That sounded _scary_, but what would be worse is relentless teasing about not doing it. You would probably be peer-pressured into it at some point, anyways. You decided then and there that you’d go first.  
But what would you _wear?_ You parked your bike at the side of your house, pushing the kickstand down. You stood there for a moment, thinking. You wouldn’t be able to wear any makeup, that was for sure. But what kind of route should you go with the bathing suit? A bikini? A one-piece? You should’ve asked Bev.  
You decided to worry about it tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is being uploaded in immediate succession of the first chapter since I worked on this story for a little bit before deciding to upload. so again;; please leave constructive criticism below! I haven't written in a long time and would love suggestions ^^ or let me know what you'd like to see in future chapters! thank you lovelies <3


	3. Chapter 3

Tomorrow came sooner than you thought.  
Here you were, standing in front of your mirror, yet again. You could only find a two-piece, so that was what you had landed on. It was just black and simple, with high-waisted bottoms. Over it, you wore a simple t-shirt and shorts.  
You kept stealing glances out the window, looking for Bev. As time passed you got more nervous. It felt like forever, since you were just sitting and waiting for her.  
She pulled up front at 12:05.  
You were quick to meet her.  
“Hey!” She waved at you. “Red door.”  
“Yeah.” You smiled, heading towards your bike.   
“Oh, just hop on mine.”  
“Uh, yeah, sure.”   
You scooted on to the seat behind her and she took your arms, wrapping them around her waist. You didn’t mind, though. You liked Bev. You trusted her.  
  
The ride was mostly silent, and it didn’t take that long, anyways. The Kissing Bridge was a cute little area. A covered bridge, and before it, a railway that was littered with names lovers had carved into it. You were a bit of a hopeless romantic, and the thought of carving your initials into the bridge made you swoon.  
_R.T. x (your initials).  
_The thought seemed to come out of nowhere. _What? No! That’ll never happen! That-  
_“Okay, we’re here.” Beverly interrupted your thoughts, which you were grateful for. You hopped off her bike, as did she, and she began walking it towards your destination.  
  
You could hear the boys from a ways away. When they came into view, you saw them all sitting near the edge of the cliff, all of them already had their shirts off. Well, for the most part. You noticed Richie still had a Hawaiian shirt on, but it was unbuttoned with nothing underneath. And then he noticed you, too.  
“Hey, hot stuff!” He called out, beginning to stand. The rest of the boys followed suit when they turned and saw you and Bev. You waved.  
Richie walked towards the two of you and swung his arm around your shoulder once you were within reach, gaining a laugh from you.  
“I think it goes without saying,” he announced to everyone, while looking at you, “that Y/N, here, is going to have to go first.”   
You straightened your back. “That’s fine by me, Tozier. Now get off so I can get undressed.”  
“That’s not the last time you’ll be saying that.”  
You shoved him away, pulling your shirt over your head, kicking off your shoes, and pulling your shorts down. When you looked up again, all the boys were staring. When they noticed that you caught them, they all quickly looked away. Well, all of them but one.  
Richie.  
You crossed your arms waiting for him to say something.  
“Uhh…” He seemed to be at a loss.  
“Cat got your tongue, Trashmouth?” You asked, stepping up to the edge of the cliff. Your stomach dropped when you looked down. It was _far_. Farther than you had anticipated. You heard Ben’s voice from behind you. “Y/N, you really don’t have to go first if you don’t-”  
“_Richie!_”  
You turned to see what the commotion was about, but before you were fully around, you felt an arm sling around your waist and pull you off the cliff.  
Richie pulled you against him as you fell, a smile on his face. The shock of him grabbing you combined with the feeling in your stomach from falling left you speechless, and all you could do was tangle yourself around him. You could feel his laughter in his chest, the wind being too loud to hear anything. But all of this happened in a mere moment, before the two of you hit the cold water below, still tangled in each other.  
Once you were both under you separated, quickly swimming for the top.  
You were up before Richie, and took a second to catch your breath and regain yourself. You saw his head pop up not long after you, and immediately you were on his case.  
“You fucking idiot!” You screeched, hitting his chest. “Why the _fuck_ would you do that, you _fucking moron!_” You continued to pound your fists into his chest, but not enough to hurt him, which he knew. You also couldn’t help but smile a bit, even as you were yelling at him, which he also knew. He laughed and pulled you against him again. “Sorry, babe.”  
He was smiling down at you, inches from your face. Your mind wandered to the thought you had about the Kissing Bridge, and you pushed yourself away from him. “I’ll get you back, you dickhead.” You sneered at him, only half-serious.  
Before he had the chance to reply, you both got sprayed by a splash of water. You looked up and saw the rest of the Losers standing at the top of the cliff. Even from all the way at the bottom, you could see Bev’s wiggling eyebrows.  
  
Swimming around with the Losers was fun. You played all sorts of different games, but mainly you chicken fought for a little while. Of course, Richie had snatched you up to be his partner rather quickly. Because of this, though, you were the one doing all the fighting, as you weren’t strong enough to carry him on your shoulders.  
After a couple of hours everyone decided it was starting to get cold, and you all got out and went to get your clothes. You noticed yourself beside Eddie.  
“You didn’t mind that, Eddie?” You asked him. “You’re a bit of a germaphobe, aren’t you?”  
His expression changed a tad at the word germaphobe (he didn’t seem to appreciate it very much), but he never pointed it out. He just shrugged. “We’ve done it a million times before. I guess at this point I’m just kind of over it.”  
You nodded, not knowing what else to say. He took the reigns.  
“So, you said you just moved here, right?” He asked.   
You nodded again.  
“Where’d you come from?”  
You caught up with Eddie for a little bit, explaining all you had already told to Richie and Bev. Where you were from and the like. He seemed genuinely interested, and it made the walk back to your clothes go by that much quicker.  
Once you made it back, you immediately noticed Richie tugging your shirt over his head. You crossed your arms and waited for him to see you, which didn’t take long. It was quite a bit oversized on you, so it’s no surprise that it fit him, despite him being quite a bit taller than you. It was a little noticeably tight on him, which you certainly weren’t complaining about.   
When he saw you, he smiled. “Whatcha lookin’ at?”   
You thought for a moment, then shook your head, laughing. “Nothing, I guess.” You bent over and picked up his Hawaiian shirt off the ground, shrugging it on. You left it unbuttoned, then went over to pull on your shorts.  
Once you were fully dressed, you faced Richie, who was staring at you. “Whatcha lookin’ at?” You teased.  
“You look _damn_ good in my clothes.” He said. “But they looked even better on the floor.” Bev pretended to gag, and you laughed at the two of them. You pushed Richie’s head down playfully. “Whatever, lover boy.”  
  
The rest of the day you spent chatting with the Losers and getting to know everyone a little bit more. You gathered that there was a bit of a love triangle going on between Bill, Bev, and Ben, which you were _definitely _going to ask her about later. Eddie was definitely a germaphobe, and a hypochondriac on top of that. Stan was Jewish, and liked birds. Mike’s parents died when he was younger. And then Richie. Well, there was nothing new really about him. He was the same way he always was. He was nice, funny, charming, cute-  
“Enjoying the view, babe?” Your thoughts were interrupted by Richie, who you just now realized you were staring at. Nice, funny, charming, cute Richie.  
“I was, actually, until you interrupted me.” You said, sighing. You glanced over to the cliff you had jumped off earlier. “Let’s go sit down.” You gestured.  
You swung your legs over the edge, staring down at the water below. Richie took a seat beside you. “And don’t try any of that bullshit from earlier, Tozier.” You said.  
“Or what?” He leaned in close.  
You shrugged. “Or you’ll never get in my pants.”  
“I don’t think anything can prevent that from happening, Y/N.” He swung his arm around your shoulder. He really loved to do that, huh?  
You didn’t mind though. You closed your eyes and enjoyed the moment, resting your head on his shoulder.  
You were scared of making things weird, though, and so you didn’t revel in the silence for long. “What’s Derry High like?”  
“Shit.” He said, without missing a beat. “Like every other high school, but this one has Henry fucking Bowers. So while high school is usually shit for everyone, this high school is even shitter. Especially for us Losers.”  
You frowned at what Richie was implying. School bullies were more of a middle school thing, but there was still one in high school? “Who’s Henry Bowers?” You decided to ask.  
You felt Richie tense up underneath you. “He’s been the school bully for-fucking-ever. He always hassles kids who are losers like us. We try to stand up to him but he always manages to find us when we’re on our own, and he’s usually got a goon or two riding his dick. He always takes things too far.”  
“That sounds awful. I’m sorry, Richie.” You replied, and tried to think of ways to change the subject. This subject seemed to be a little touchy.  
“It’s not your fault, baby, don’t worry about it.” He said.  
Admittedly, you liked the pet names.  
But you were sure he talked to everyone like that.  
“So, what do you wanna do after high school?” _That’s a good subject change.  
  
_You and Richie continued to chat about this and that and wherever the conversation led you. It was, for the most part, just a genuine conversation. He didn’t make _that_ many sexual comments, but they still slipped through every now and again. Usually you’d just shut him up by saying you’d push him off the cliff.  
After what must have been a couple of hours, Richie turned. “Where did everybody go?”  
“Huh?” You sat up straight, his arm falling off you. You shuddered at the sudden lack of warmth. You turned to see that he was right. Nobody was there anymore. They must have left while you two were chatting and didn’t bother to say anything. Or maybe they had, and you were too deep in conversation to notice.  
“Maybe they felt bad for all the times they cockblocked me earlier. Which they should.” Richie said.   
You turned to look at him again, laughing. “Keep it in your pants, Tozier.”   
“You don’t make it easy, L/N.” As he said this he very obviously checked you out, his eyes scanning your torso. You felt your cheeks flush as you looked down and realized you were still wearing his Hawaiian shirt, and it was still unbuttoned. “Shut up, Richie!” You stood up and clumsily tried to button it up, but you hadn’t even gotten the bottom button done before he grabbed your hands and rose to his feet as well. “Let me.”  
He let go of your hands and started buttoning up his shirt from the bottom up. You rested your hands on his forearms as he did so. He buttoned it up all the way to the last button, then put his hands on your shoulders. “There.”  
You stared at each other for a moment. _God_, you could stare into those brown eyes forever.  
You were overcome with emotion, unsure what to do as Richie stared at you, his hands on your shoulders, only inches away. After he just buttoned up your shirt for you. What a golden opportunity for some sexual innuendo, and he wasn’t taking it? You were also _certainly_ blushing right now, and he had yet to point it out?  
Your mind was racing a mile a minute, but as a smile formed on his face, your thoughts came to a complete stop. “You are so cute when you’re embarrassed.” He said.  
“You’re such a fucking tease, Richie!” You pushed his hands off you and shoved him, then ran in the direction of where your bikes were.   
“H-Hey!” Richie ran after you.  
You knew your bike wasn’t here with you, but you were sure Richie’s would’ve been, and you planned to hop on his and ride away. But you were kidding yourself if you thought he wouldn’t be faster than you, especially considering the height he had on you.  
And then his hand was on your wrist, forcing you to stop. You tugged under his grasp, and he laughed, out of breath. “Where ya goin’, baby? Just a minute ago it seemed like you wanted to do the _opposite_ of run away from me.”   
You pretended to be angry with him, but you were laughing. “You’re a stupid tease! Get your filthy hands off me!”  
It almost felt like you were about to escape his grasp, until he stepped forward and threw you over his shoulder. You gasped, surprised. You could still hear him laughing.  
“What are you _doing_!” You pounded your fists into his back, but again, couldn’t help but laugh. You couldn’t remember the last time you had done something like this. It was fun to be carried around, watching the edge where you two were formerly sitting get farther and farther away as Richie carried you.   
You gave up fighting and let your arms dangle, relishing in how fun it was to be carried.  
Unfortunately, the walk wasn’t too long, and Richie set you down once you reached his bike. As soon as you were back on the ground you shoved him playfully, but then you felt dizzy and rested your hand on his shoulder. You had been hanging upside down for a couple of minutes, after all, all the blood had probably rushed to your head.  
“You’re… Stupid…” You said, trying to blink away the dots in your eyes.   
“Whatever you say, Y/N.” Richie replied. “Where’s your bike?”  
“Oh, I just rode here with Bev. I can walk home, though.”  
“What kind of gentleman would I be if I let you walk home by yourself?” Richie said incredulously. That made you laugh.  
“Since when have you ever been a gentleman, Trashmouth?”  
“I just fucking carried you here!”  
“Against my will!”  
He hopped on his bike. “Just fucking get on, Princess.”  
You laughed and hopped on behind him, wrapping your arms around his waist. “I could get used to this.” He said.  
“Shut up and take me home, Richie.”  
  
Just like your ride with Bev that morning, it was mostly silent. Other than you directing Richie. But it was nice biking around with him, feeling the heat radiating off of him, having an excuse to wrap your arms around his waist…  
But you could see your house approaching, and you knew it would be over soon. “Oh, it’s coming up. The one with the red door.”   
He pulled up outside your house, and you hopped off his bike.  
“It’s cold without you back there.” He said.  
“I won’t be gone long.” You winked at him. “When’s the crew getting together again?”  
Richie shrugged. “We’ll probably just pull up someday, so you better be ready. Or maybe it’ll just be me, I’ll take you out on the town. So you better be ready for that, too.”  
You raised an eyebrow. __A date? You decided not to press. “Alright, Tozier.”  
You smiled, staring at him. Then, you held out your hand. “Until we meet again?”  
He smiled, and kissed it. “Until we meet again.” He said in an accent, and then rode away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again! here is chapter 3. I was thinking about maybe having a chapter where reader & richie go on a double date w bev and someone. who would you guys wanna see? ben or bill?? it wouldn't be for a little bit if i do it at all. & if no one says anything i'm just gonna do bill lol. thank you for reading! :3c


	4. Chapter 4

You had kinda forgotten you were wearing Richie’s shirt, to be honest. You had put it on so long ago that you weren’t really thinking about it anymore.  
Your mom noticed, though.  
“Y/N?” She asked.  
Not thinking anything of it, you replied with a tired, “yeah?”  
“Whose shirt are you wearing?”  
You tried to keep cool, not letting the guilt show on your face. “Oh, just my friends. We went swimming and he accidentally grabbed my shirt because he wasn’t wearing his glasses-” your mom interrupted your lie with a “he?”  
You groaned. You and your mom were close enough that it wasn’t super weird to talk with her about stuff like this. She was always pestering you about boys. You weren’t about to talk about Richie with her though, especially since you were still trying to deny you had feelings for him at all. He’s a _player_. Has he been with anyone before? No, but he was still a flirty guy and was probably just going to use you until the next girl came along that he could rope in. And you didn’t want any part of it! Everything going on between you two was surely for kicks - just mindless banter.  
“His name is Richie.” You told her. “He’s a bit of an idiot. And also _just my friend_. We’ve only been here for two days, mom.”  
Christ, that was right. It _had_ only been two days. And you were already feeling so close with the group. They felt like family.  
That being said, you had spent your only two days here with them. Well, mainly with Richie. And Bev, too. You rather hoped they wouldn’t show up tomorrow, and you could have a day to let everything settle.  
“Alright, N/N. Well, dinner’s going to be ready soon.”  
And with that, you escaped the conversation.  
  
The next day, as you had hoped, was quite uneventful. While it was true that everything was unpacked, nothing was necessarily _organized_. You had time to sleep in, set up your room, and for the first time since you’d arrived here, you could relax. Hanging with the Losers was so much fun, but it also made you anxious. You liked them all a lot, but you weren’t fully comfortable around them yet, so you were always a little bit nervous while hanging out with them. You didn’t want to lose them as friends. They were all on your mind, though.  
You even helped your mom out with some chores around the house. Gardening, dishes, helping _her_ get organized. It was nice and made the day go by quick.  
It was well past curfew by the time you flopped on to your bed, exhausted from today. There was no way the group was going to be hanging out now.  
You stared at the pink Hawaiian shirt hanging off your door handle. Richie’s shirt. You wondered where he had put your shirt. If he ever gazed at it the way you were gazing at his now.  
With a sigh you stood up, walking over to your window to let some fresh air in. As you unlocked it, you saw movement down below, on your yard. You put a hand over your eyes and pressed them to the window, to block out the reflection that your bedroom light was casting.  
Was that Beverly?  
You pushed your window open and looked down at the figure, who you decided was definitely Beverly.  
“Beverly?” You called, despite already knowing the answer.  
“Hey! Can I come in?”  
“Uh, yeah, sure!”  
You were glad that you had taken the time to get everything organized, especially since you weren’t anticipating company.   
“Beverly’s coming in.” You told your mom as you walked by the living room. She knew all the Losers by name now, as you had told her about all of them earlier.  
You opened the door and greeted Beverly. She said hi to your mom, and you led her up to your room.  
She immediately took a seat on the floor under the window, and you sat on your bed. “What’s up?” You said.  
She ignored your question. “Mind if I smoke?”  
You did mind, but you weren’t going to tell her that. “No.”  
The cigarette was basically lit before you had answered, anyways.  
"It’s past curfew.” You said, getting up to put on a vinyl for some background music. You flipped through your collection. “Were you already out?”  
“No, I was just bored.” She said. You thought she might be lying, but again, you weren’t going to tell her that. You put on a vinyl from The Cure, adjusting the volume so it didn’t play too loudly.   
Bev smiled. “Richie loves this band.”  
“Of course he does.” You dismissed her comment. “Actually, speaking of the boys, I’ve been meaning to ask you. What’s the deal with you and Ben and Bill?”  
She took a drag from the cigarette. “I dunno.” Then she paused, thinking. “I just kinda let them make moves. I’d go out with either of them if they asked, but neither has been man enough to do it yet.”  
You laughed. That sounded like them. “How long has it been going on for?”  
“Oh, you have no idea.”  
You and Bev continued to chat. She talked a little about the social game at Derry High, mentioning certain people and explaining to you what their deal was.  
“Actually, I think Greta’s having a party next week,” Bev said. She was long done the cigarette by now, but the smell lingered in your room. “She’s never been a huge fan of any of us, especially me, but we were still planning on going. You should come, too. You drink or smoke?”  
You had before, but you weren’t huge on it. Drinking might ease your nerves a little bit, though, and this party sounded like a good way to get to know people.  
You were honest with Bev. “I have before. I’ll see how I’m feeling when the night comes.”   
She just laughed. “Okay. Eddie’s DD. He barely ever does, either. So you can drink as much as you want. Oh, and we were gonna crash at Mike’s that night. He lives on a farm with his grandparents. There’s lots of room for all of us, and his grandparents could sleep through anything, I swear.”   
You nodded. Were you to get shtifaced, you’d be placing a lot of trust into the Losers. You would be relying on Eddie to get you home safely, relying on Mike to have a place for you to stay, and the rest of them to not harass you in the night. Or take advantage of you while you were drunk. You wondered if Richie was the type.  
“You should give me your home phone number.” Bev said. “So I don’t just have to show up and hope that you’re here.”  
While writing it down, you asked. “Do the Losers have any plans before Greta’s party?”  
“I don’t think so.” She said. “But usually none of us do anything. If you want anyone’s address or phone number just let me know and they’ll probably be available.”  
You thought for a moment. “Well, give me yours, of course. Um, maybe Richie, too? And… Ben.” You didn’t want her teasing you about asking for Richie’s number, so you threw Ben in there, too. He was nice to talk to back at the Clubhouse, though. He also mentioned that when he first moved here he spent a lot of time in the library, so you assumed he liked reading, just like you.   
Despite your amazing coverup of asking for Richie’s number, Bev still had a small smile on her face as she wrote down everyone’s information.  
“I guess you need Richie’s information so you can give him his shirt back, huh?” She gestured to the shirt hanging on your door. This reminded you of the previous night, in which she (and all the other Losers) ditched the two of you.  
“Hey, that reminds me! What was the deal with yesterday?” You asked.  
She laughed. “You and Richie looked like you were having a moment. Eddie was about to pester you, but I said we should just sneak off and see if you even noticed. Which, you didn’t. How long did it take you guys to see we weren’t there anymore?”  
“Man, I have no idea.” You laid down on your bed.  
Bev hummed, and then handed you the notepad on which she had written the number of everyone you asked for. You stared at the page. __Richie Tozier…  
  
Bev didn’t stay for too long after that. When she first arrived she seemed a little on edge, but she had visibly calmed down. You guessed she just needed a distraction from something, and that was her motivation for coming over so late. You didn’t quite mind it, though. It was nice to have company - someone to just sort of mindlessly chat with for a little while.  
After she left, you looked at the page of numbers again. When should you call one of them? How long should you wait? Should you do it before or after Greta’s party? Should you call Ben or Beverly before you called Richie?  
You decided you were definitely overthinking it, and just went to bed for the night.  
  
After that, you had a couple of uneventful days. You never rang anyone, and nobody rang you. You spent some time around the house, went out with your mom, and practiced some of your hobbies. But today, you were bored, and standing by the telephone. Staring yet again at the list of numbers on the page. You picked up the phone, dialing one of them.  
“Hello?” Spoke a female voice on the other end.  
“Hi! Um, is this the Tozier residence?” You asked.  
“It is, can I ask who’s calling?” That must’ve been Richie’s mom.  
“My name is Y/N, I’m a friend of Richie’s. Is he there?”  
“Um, yes, one moment!” You heard her call Richie’s name.  
“Hello?” He answered.   
“Hey, Trashmouth.” You grinned. “I still have to give you back your stupid shirt.”  
“Y/N? You got sick of waitin’ for me to come around to your place first, huh? Need to see me that badly?”  
“You know me so well.”  
“Well, lucky for you, I’m not doing anything right now. I’ll come get you.”   
“Okay. See you soon, Richie.”  
“Later, babe.”  
You set the phone on the receiver and smiled to yourself. Richie had been on your mind since you last saw him. You missed him, admittedly. You’d never tell him that, though.   
You went upstairs to grab his shirt, but stopped, your hand resting on the door handle that it was hanging from. If you just “forgot” it here you’d have an excuse to see him again some other time. You left it there, heading back downstairs to wait for him.  
You thought you had heard someone mention - probably Richie himself - that he had some old pickup truck. You’d never seen it though. Every time the Losers were out, he was on his bike. This time was no different. When he pulled up outside your house, he was on his bike. You yelled out a goodbye, and exited your house.  
Richie smiled as soon as he saw you, which made you feel warm inside. You smiled back. “Hey, lover boy.”  
“Hey, baby. What’s the plan for today?”  
You thought for a moment. “Let’s bike around. I wanna go downtown.”   
You went to retrieve your bike from around the side of your house, when Richie loudly cleared his throat.  
“There’s room for two on here, you know.” He gestured to the back of his bike.  
You rolled your eyes and turned back around, walking towards him. “My bike’s gonna start rusting if I keep letting you guys give me rides!”  
“Then only let me give you them.” He said.   
“Let’s just go.” You wrapped your arms around his waist, reveling again in the warmth radiating off of him. He seemed to enjoy it too for a moment, before pedaling in the direction of downtown Derry.  
On the way there, you noticed the high school approaching. “Do you think it’d be open?” You asked.  
Richie looked over to the school, and seemed exasperated when he said, “the high school? Why the fuck would you wanna go there?”  
“‘Cuz I’ve never been! I wanna know what it looks like.”  
You both heard and felt Richie sigh, as he turned towards the school. You squeezed him a little tighter as a thank you, which you weren’t sure he would even notice.  
It looked nice enough. Just your typical high school. There was a big walkway leading up to some stairs that led to the front door. On the grass there were a couple of trees here and there, and of course, an American flag. You assumed there would be a football field around back.  
He rode down the walkway and stopped just before the stairs. You both hopped off, and he threw his bike down on the grass. “Alright, let’s go.” He said, walking towards the doors. You followed close behind, and when he reached the doors, he dramatically put his hands on both handles. “I hope to fucking God they’re closed.” He tugged on the doors and, to his dismay and your delight, they swung open. “Jesus Christ.” He shook his head, then backed up so you could go in first, still holding open the left door. You laughed. “Maybe you are a gentleman.”  
The inside looked like a typical high school, too. You were greeted by a long hallway with lockers on either side, which had breaks in between them for doors that you assumed led to classrooms. “Welcome to Derry High School, ladies and gentlemen,” Richie said in an accent. “I’ll be your tour guide for today, please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Shall we get going?” He held his elbow out, and you happily linked arms with him.   
Richie showed you around the main parts of the school, ignoring the individual classrooms, other for a few select teachers that he had some nasty things to say about. The entire time, you may note, he kept his arm linked with yours. He showed you where his locker from last year was, the gym, the cafeteria, the table where he and the Losers ate, and now, you were in the library. The school was dead, other than the odd janitor.  
At one point on your tour round the school he stopped, facing you. "You never gave me my shirt. That was the whole reason you called me in the first place." You shrugged, a small smile on your face. "I guess you'll just have to come back and get it another time." He smiled at you, then began walking again, tugging you along with him. "I guess I will."  
  
“And our final stop on the tour today is the library.” He gestured to the room, and then returned to his normal voice. “There’s not much to say about the library. It fucking sucks. I’m never really here unless I have to be for class, ‘cuz usually it’s too quiet for my liking.”   
You laughed. “You probably say that about a lot of places, Trashmouth.”  
He was leading you through the bookshelves as you said this, which were tall and plentiful. “It’s not always all that bad here, though.” He stopped and faced you. You backed into a bookshelf behind you, Richie towering over you. “Since it’s usually so dead, you can get a little bit of privacy in the bookshelves.”  
Here he was again, making you flustered. You tried to fight the heat rising to your cheeks. “Shut up, you tease.” You pushed him, and ran away into a different aisle. “H-Hey!” You heard him call out.   
You tried to laugh as quietly as possible as you made your way down different aisles. It wasn’t too hard to avoid Richie, as he wasn’t necessarily making an effort to keep quiet. Eventually, however, he caught on to this, and when he stopped talking, you stopped moving. You tried to listen for him, tiptoeing down the aisle you were in, until you felt two hands clamber down on your shoulders, and at the same time heard, “gotcha.”  
You yelped, spinning on your heel to see Richie who was already laughing at your reaction. You pushed him playfully and feigned anger. “Ugh, Richie! You’re such a stupid tease!” He pinched your cheek, which surprised you enough to make you stop hitting him. “Cute, cute, cute!” He said, then linked his arm around yours and dragged you out of the library, and out of the school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello yes thank you again for reading! i also wanted to say i don't know why the one note is on every single chapter idk how to get rid of it lol it was only supposed to be there for the first one. anyways leave suggestions or constructive criticism or anything down below! mwah xo


	5. Chapter 5

You made your way back to his bike, thinking about what to do next. “What do you usually do around here?” You asked.   
Richie picked his bike up off the ground and pursed his lips in thought. “Usually I just play Street Fighter at the arcade.” He said finally.  
“Are you in the mood for it today?” You asked.  
He hopped on his bike and raised an eyebrow at you. “_You’re_ in the mood to play Street Fighter? You like video games?”  
“Yeah! What gave you the impression that I didn’t?”  
He shrugged. “I dunno. Let’s go then. I hope you aren’t a sore loser, though. I’ve been playing this game my whole life, I’m gonna kick your ass.”  
You laughed, getting on the bike behind him. “We’ll see, Tozier.”  
  
As it turns out, Richie _is_ quite good at Street Fighter. You aren’t much of a sore loser, though, and he was gracious enough to buy the tokens for the both of you, too. So really, you weren’t losing anything. Other than having to listen to Richie’s constant bragging about how good he was. There was one round you won, but it was only because you cheated, and reached over to mess with his controls. You also stepped back sometimes to let other people play against Richie, but he always kicked them out so you could play again after a couple of rounds.  
You must’ve been there for a good couple of hours when you finally piped up, “I don’t think I’m ever gonna win, Richie. And I think you’re too clouded by your ego to realize that you’re wasting all your spare change on this.”   
Richie shrugged. “Worth it.”  
You both stepped away from the machine, and immediately your place was filled by other kids wanting to play.   
“Sometime, instead of just kicking my ass over and over again, you’ll have to teach me how to play properly. Show me all the _strategy_.” You said. This made Richie laugh.  
“Sure thing, babe. But you aren’t allowed to use it against me.”  
“No promises.” You winked at him.   
When you got to the door, instead of holding it open for you like he usually does, he cut you off, standing in front of it. You raised an eyebrow at him.  
“I think I deserve something for all those wins.” He said.  
You laughed. “What do you want, Tozier? Choose wisely.”  
He put his hand to his chin, pretending to be deep in thought. Then suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he turned his head, pointing his cheek toward you. He tapped it.  
You felt a slight blush rise to your cheeks when you realized what he was implying. He wanted a kiss.  
…  
_Fuck it.  
_You sighed. “Only for you, Tozier.” Then you got up on your toes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.  
A smile appeared on his face, along with an expression of… shock? He must’ve thought you weren’t going to do it.  
“Will you kiss anywhere I ask you to?” He said.   
“Beep beep, Richie.” You laughed, blush still evident on your cheeks, and pushed past him and out the door.   
  
“We’ve still got time to hang, if you want.” Richie said, resting his hand on the handlebars of his bike. “I’ve got nothing better to do. Actually, there’s nothing I’d _rather_ do than you.”  
“Uh, we could watch a movie if you want?” You suggested, ignoring his comment.  
“Where?”  
“...At my house?”  
“Your parents aren’t home, are they?”  
“Shut up, Richie.” You smiled, and gestured for him to get on his bike. You didn’t know if your parents were home, but your room was upstairs, and they never really bothered you, anyways. So it didn’t really make a difference. _Not that it matters, anyways. He was probably just making a joke. Classic Richie.  
_You got on the bike behind him, and took off towards your house.  
  
Your parents were, indeed, home. You saw the car in the driveway as you approached. This meant that Richie would be meeting your mom at least. Your dad never really came upstairs other than to eat, but he stayed in his room in the basement for the most part. You hoped he would stay there today.  
You told him to put his bike around the side of the house near yours, and headed inside.  
As soon as you stepped in, you called out, “I’m home with a friend!” to hopefully stop your mom from saying or doing anything embarrassing because she didn’t realize you weren’t alone. However, this could also have the opposite effect.  
Your mom’s head popped around the corner from the kitchen. “I was just wondering if you would be home for dinner. It’s almost ready.”  
You kicked your shoes off. “Uh, mom, this is Richie.”  
“Oh! Right.” She came to greet you guys.  
Richie awkwardly stuck out his hand. “Uh, hey, Mrs. (your last initial).”  
She giggled and shook his hand. “I’ve heard lots about you, Richie.”  
“Oh?” Richie looked at you.  
“Anyways!” You flashed a look at your mom. “We were gonna watch a movie.”  
“Okay, let me plate dinner for you two first!”  
Your mom hurried back to the kitchen, and Richie raised an eyebrow at you. “She’s heard lots about me.”  
“In your dreams, Tozier. She’s just trying to embarrass me.” You replied.  
“Mhm.”   
  
Not long after your mom brought out two plates of dinner for you and Richie, which you took up to your room to eat.  
The way your room was set up, the only place to sit in front of the tv was on your bed. Or on the floor. Richie didn’t hesitate to plop down on the bed, though, as you rifled through some DVDs. “Do you have any preference?” You asked.  
Through a mouthful of food, he said, “nope.” You landed on Alfred Hitchcock’s _Psycho_, throwing it in the DVD player and sitting beside Richie, rather awkwardly. You felt stiff, not sure if you should move to be close to him, or if you were fine where you were. He didn’t seem to notice, though, which was a relief.  
It wasn’t until after you were done eating that things began to feel awkward, as you both sat there in silence watching the film. You noticed out of the corner of your eye Richie had turned to look at you. “Lay down.” He said.  
You looked at him, a little surprised. “Hm?”  
“Lay down.” He nodded his head towards the bed.  
Hesitantly, you laid down on your back. “Better?” You asked. He hummed, and curled up beside you, resting his head on your lap and wrapping his arms around you. The entire time he did it you stared at him in shock. You blushed. Again, this felt very… genuine. Watching him curl up beside you and wrap his arms around you was so soft, and unlike how Richie usually was. He never addressed it, just began to watch the movie again. You felt a small smile appear on your face as you looked down at him, and you absentmindedly began to run your fingers through his hair. He hummed, and you watched his eyes slowly close. _He really likes this._ You noted. You continued to run your fingers through his hair, until you felt yourself begin to be calmed by it, too. The heat radiating off of Richie, feeling his chest rise and fall against you, his slender arms wrapped around your figure, the softness of his hair… You didn’t realize it, but your movements began to slow down, until eventually your hand grew still in Richie’s hair, and you fell asleep.  
  
You awoke the next morning, and it took you a minute to come to and realize what had happened the night before. As soon as you realized you fell asleep while Richie was still over, you shot up, staring out the window and realizing it was now morning. You ran down the stairs and were greeted by your mother, who was already awake. “Morning.” She said while doing dishes.   
“What happened last night? Did Richie get out okay? I fell asleep…” You faltered at the end of your statement, a little embarrassed.  
She laughed. “He’s a very sweet boy, Y/N! He washed both of your dishes before he left and bid me goodnight as well.” She paused, a sly smile on her face. “I really like him. He’s a cutie, too.” You groaned, mentally facepalming at all the events that had unfolded. You went back up to your room, staring at your bed. Now that you thought about it, when you woke up, the lights were off, and you’d had a blanket over you, too. You wondered if that was Richie’s doing as well, or if maybe he told your mom that you passed out and she came in and did it. You tried to convince yourself it was the latter, but you couldn’t deny that your feelings for Richie had been getting stronger and stronger every day. It certainly didn’t help that you noticed his Hawaiian shirt was still hanging off your door handle, as well.  
You sat down on your bed, placing your head in your hands, and thought. __Do I really have a crush on Richie “Trashmouth” Tozier? Before, you kept trying to convince yourself that he was just like that with everyone, but he did really seem to actually like you. You supposed you’d talk to Bev about it before actually pursuing anything, but trying to repress your feelings wasn’t going to help. And innocent until proven guilty, right? You had no reason to suspect that Richie was a flirt with multiple girls other than Bev and Bill, but you hadn’t seen anything yourself. The party would be the best way to test that. But for now, you finally gave in to your emotions and admitted to yourself for the first time - you had a crush on Richie Tozier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a shorter chapter, but I've got a looong one in the works right now :) hope this will suffice until then. thank you so much for reading!! i love all of u with all of my heart


	6. Chapter 6

You didn’t really hang with the Losers until Greta’s party, other than Bev. It was never very long visits, and she tried her best to call before coming over, but sometimes she just appeared, looking worn and weary. You didn’t mind, and were glad that you were the first person she thought to come to when she was in a bad place.   
You’d spoken to Richie a little bit, too. Just phone calls, though. And since you hadn’t seen him in a little bit, you really wanted to wow him tonight. Remind him just how pretty you were.  
Currently, Bev was laying on your bed, flipping through some magazine she found laying around your room, while you stared at yourself in the mirror. You decided it would be a power move to wear Richie’s Hawaiian shirt to the party, which you tucked into some jeans, and unbuttoned just enough so that Richie would be all over you. You’d hoped, at least. You admired yourself; your hair, your makeup, your outfit… You looked good. Even in Richie’s goofy shirt. But then, he always looked good in it, too.  
There was a quick honk outside.  
You turned and made eye contact with Bev. You rushed to the window and looked outside, and watched as Richie leaned forward from the backseat and layed on the horn. You laughed. “They’re here, let’s go.”  
You bid your mother farewell, and on the way out she told you to “stay safe” with a wink. You thought it might be something to do with Richie but never addressed it.  
Lucky for you, the windows on Eddie’s van weren’t tinted, so you could see Richie do a double-take when you walked out, and then continue to stare at you as you made your way to the van. He opened the door once you and Bev reached it.   
“Hey, hot stuff!” He grinned.   
You couldn’t help but smile as you crawled into the seat beside him, greeting the other Losers on the way in. Bev sat on your other side. Immediately he draped his arm around your shoulders. “Where’d you get this from?” He grabbed the collar of your (his?) shirt, leaning in. You could already smell alcohol on his breath. You laughed, pushing him away. “Pregaming, Tozier? Really?”  
He smiled again and shrugged. God you loved his smile.   
“Can we buckle up back there, please? I’d like to get going.” Eddie said from the front. You giggled.  
“Yep. Sorry, Eds.”  
  
The ride there wasn’t long, and the gang chatted the whole way down. It seemed that most of them already had a few drinks in their system. You hadn’t really thought about it, and felt bad for Bev for not offering her anything. You were sure in a couple of hours it wouldn’t matter, though.  
Not surprisingly Eddie was quite the nervous driver, keeping his hands on 10 and 2 at all times, and parking far enough away from the house that “nobody would vandalize his car”. It was kind of comforting, though. After all, he was the one taking care of you tonight.  
Once all the Losers clambered out of the van, Richie was immediately attached to your hip again. “Let’s stay together tonight, yeah?”  
You looked up at him. He was awfully close. “Anything for you, Tozier.” For a second you considered kissing his cheek, as you had done at the arcade. But before you could do anything you quickly looked away from him. You weren’t nearly drunk enough yet to do that. Besides, keeping him waiting would be more fun.  
“Let’s go fuckin’ party!” Richie announced to the group, and you all headed towards the house.  
Having Richie on your side was comforting. You hadn’t been to many parties, let alone where the majority of people were total strangers to you. The closer you got the more nervous you got as well, and having Richie there was grounding.   
Richie was quick to find a bucket of drinks, grabbing one for him and you. You took it from him, feeling awkward. _I guess this is the best way to loosen up_.  
You could feel him watching you as you cracked it open and took a sip.   
“This is okay?” He said over the music, gesturing to the drink. He took a swig of his.  
You nodded.  
It wasn’t a total lie. You were sure you would get used to it.  
  
As the night progressed, you had more drinks, and you _had_ gotten used to it. You were feeling a lot more carefree. There were few people you interacted with other than Richie, and mainly it was just the other Losers when you ran into them. You had even played beer pong against Bev and Bill - needless to say, you and Richie won. Mainly because Richie carried, though.   
You also succeeded in your one goal tonight - having Richie all over you. You didn’t think there was a single moment thus far where Richie wasn’t touching you in some way, but he certainly favored having his arm around your waist. You loved every second of it, because it gave you an excuse to be just as touchy back. You’d run your hand over his chest, or when he couldn’t hear you over the music, put a hand on his shoulder and get right up close to his ear. When you took a moment to think about it, you realized the two of you had been flirting _all night._   
You certainly felt eyes on you at the beginning, probably people wondering who you were, but now you were at the point where you didn’t notice. Right now, you were sitting on the counter in the kitchen with Richie in front of you, resting his hands on your knees. He was definitely a little more out of it than you, but not completely shitfaced. You hoped he wouldn’t get to the point where you’d have to take care of him, but it did seem like he’d been slowing down.  
What you liked about parties is that nobody really cared what anyone was doing. Not only were you buzzed enough that you didn’t care yourself what people thought of you, but nobody was even paying attention anyways. Everyone was in their own little world. That’s why you didn’t feel weird wrapping your legs around Richie to bring him closer. He didn’t really react to this, just kept looking at you the way he was before. Your feet hooked under his knees.  
“Yknow, I think you should just keep this.” He said, playing with the collar again. His fingers brushed your collarbone, and you felt goosebumps on your arms. You shook your head. “No,” you pressed a finger into his chest. “Looks better on you.”   
He grinned. “I think it’d look _best_ on the floor, but you’re definitely second.” You giggled, sipping from your drink. “Maybe if there weren’t so many people around.”  
Richie stared at you. “What?”  
You raised your voice, yelling over the music. “Maybe if there weren’t so… so many people around. We could see how it looks on the floor.” You smiled, and Richie wrapped his arms around your waist, leaning closer to you. “You fucking tease.” He said, smiling.  
You wrapped your arms around his neck, and had a fleeting thought about how you had every limb wrapped around him. You wanted him as close as possible. Now that you were buzzed not only were your emotions completely out of control, but you were willing to do things you wouldn’t normally do to satiate them. “You’re so handsome.” You said without thinking.  
Richie laughed, and grabbed your drink from beside you, pouring it down the sink. “I think you’ve had enough.” You glanced quickly between the drink and him. “What? No! I think that when I don’t have drinks either.” You ran one hand into his hair and watched his eyes flutter shut. The music was too loud to hear, but you could feel his chest vibrate as he hummed in content.  
“Maybe we should get going,” Richie said, pulling back a little bit to look up at you. You smiled and began to untangle yourself from him. “Okay, Rich.”  
Unfortunately, you didn’t get very far.  
Richie grabbed your hand and turned around to begin to guide you both out when he ran directly into a boy, who then accidentally spilled his drink all over Richie.  
Richie stopped in his tracks, and his hand in yours suddenly felt very tight and cold.  
The boy he ran into didn’t seem to be bothered by spilling his drink on Richie, nor was he bothered about losing his drink at all. You watched as he shrugged, patted Richie’s shoulder, and slurred out a “sorry, man.”   
Richie slowly turned to face you, and you smiled apologetically. “Let’s go find a bathroom.”  
  
Richie didn’t seem to know the layout of the house super well, and so it took you both a moment to find a bathroom, especially one that was unoccupied. You actually walked in on a couple making out on the bathroom counter and mercilessly kicked them out. You locked the door behind you once you got in, to avoid meeting the same fate as the couple and getting kicked out by some other people.  
Richie leaned against the counter while you looked around for a towel, grabbing a small one off a rack. You reached past him to wet it, and began dabbing at his shirt. “Mm, I don’t know if this is going to do much.” You said, nonetheless still dabbing away at his soaked shirt. You tried to ignore the way it clung to his body. Richie didn’t say anything, just watched you as you worked. It didn’t take long for him to wrap an arm around your waist yet again. He tugged you closer slightly.  
You pouted and looked up at him. “How am I supposed to work at this angle?”  
“I think it’s a lost cause, Y/N. Besides, you’re the one who’s supposed to be soaked, not me.”  
You blushed, suddenly realizing that you and Richie were not only both intoxicated, but completely alone, pressed up against one another.  
“S-Shut up and let me do my job.” You peeled your eyes away from his, beginning to work on his shirt again.  
He didn’t humor you. Barely a moment had passed before he put his hand under your chin, forcing you to look up at him. “Come on, N/N.” He spoke so softly, you could have melted right then and there.   
“Are you sure?” You said so quietly you could barely hear yourself.  
“Mhm.” His hand moved from under your chin to cup your cheek. You nuzzled your cheek into his hand, your eyes never leaving his.   
Suddenly, it was just you and Richie. You forgot about the party happening just behind the bathroom door, the music faded into nothing, and all you could hear was your heart thumping in your chest. You placed your hand on his chest, beginning to inch closer to him. Your eyes began to flutter shut, and-  
-and there was a knock at the door.  
You and Richie jumped away from each other, your eyes immediately glued to the door. The knocking continued. “Richie? Y/N?”   
You sighed, pressing a hand to your forehead and closing your eyes. There was no doubt that was Eddie’s voice.  
His knocking persisted, and he said, “I know you’re in there!” The words were barely out of his mouth before Richie yanked the door open. You didn’t hear exactly what he said, but he hissed something to Eddie, probably along the lines of, “you fucking cockblock!”  
Eddie rolled his eyes. “We’re leaving, dickwad.” You noticed Stan behind him, who awkwardly waved at you. You waved back.  
Richie turned to face you, an annoyed yet apologetic look on his face. You knew the annoyed part wasn’t directed towards you. “Let’s go, I guess.” He said, extending his hand to you. You threw the towel down on the counter and grabbed his hand, exiting the bathroom together and helping Eddie look for the rest of the group.  
  
You rounded up the other Losers, who also clearly had a good time. Eddie seemed to be the only one who _didn’t_ enjoy himself. He just seemed sort of… disgusted with everyone. Anytime somebody bumped into him he quickly pulled himself away, and kept scolding everyone for acting the way they were. You couldn’t help but notice how sweet he was though, making sure everyone got in to the car safe and got buckled up before even going into the driver’s seat. Then also double-checking when he _was_ in the driver’s seat.  
In the car, you were still all over Richie. You leaned your head against his shoulder, and hugged his waist, him with an arm around you. You ignored that his shirt was still wet and sticky. You felt so happy. How light the alcohol made you feel mixed with being so close to Richie was almost overwhelming, yet not at all. You wished it would never end. He began to play with your hair and you shut your eyes, hugging him closer without realizing it.  
  
The ride wasn’t long, probably because you were so caught up in Richie. Again, Eddie helped everybody out of the car and directed you all towards Mike’s house. Getting hit with the fresh air and being away from the party atmosphere did help everyone sober up a little though, so this task wasn’t as difficult. Once everyone was inside, Eddie spoke up, “so most of you know the layout of the house. What’s the plan for sleeping arrangements? Where are you all staying?”   
At that moment it occurred to you that you may have to part with Richie for the night. Instinctively you reached for him, your arm around his side for the umpteenth time tonight. “I-I wanna stay with Richie.” Your voice was barely above a whisper.  
Before Richie even had the chance to make some remark, Eddie was shutting you down. “What? No way. While you’re both drunk? No, not on my watch. Not happening.” He continued to ramble about just how much that _wasn’t_ happening and you felt your heart break a little. Just _one_ night was all you wanted. You hadn’t even _really_ kissed Richie yet, you weren’t going to sleep with him. You just wanted to have someone to lay beside. Having him with you made you comfortable.  
But how was Eddie to know all of this? You barely knew each other, anyways. You began to lose hope when you heard Beverly’s voice. “Re-laaax Eds, all anyone is gonna be doing is going to _sleep_. I think it’s fine, just let them lay down beside each other.”   
Richie finally got a word in. “Yeah, stop being such a fuckin’ buzzkill.”  
To your surprise, the rest of the Losers began to pipe up too, saying it was fine and not a big deal. Eventually, Eddie gave in. “Okay! Fine! Fucking fine! But I don’t wanna hear _shit_ from any of you if something happens!”  
You smiled, feeling your eyelids begin to droop. You were tired, and now that you knew you would get to sleep beside Richie, you didn’t really bother to listen to anymore. He seemed to have the same idea, because before anyone else could speak, he called dibs on one of the rooms and dragged you in the direction of it. “Goodnight, guys,” you waved sluggishly as Richie tugged you along.  
  
He chose a nice, simple room. It seemed like a guest room. It wasn’t huge, and didn’t have much in it other than a bed, end table, lamp, and chair. The bed wasn’t _huge_, but you would definitely fit in it. And besides, it just gave you all the more reason to cuddle up with Richie.   
Neither of you bothered to turn the light on, just immediately crawled into bed. He got in first, getting under the covers after putting his glasses on the end table. Then, he opened up the covers for you, along with an arm across the bed, gesturing for you to cuddle up beside him. You happily got in and he pulled the covers down, wrapping his arms around you. You tangled your legs up with his and draped your free arm around him, as well.  
Immediately you were hit with the potent smell of alcohol, and Richie’s cold, damp shirt didn’t feel particularly nice against your face.  
“Your shirt fucking stinks.” You said.  
“Oh, yeah,” Richie pulled back slightly, looking down at his shirt. “I’d just kind of gotten used to it.” He began to scan the room, as if looking for something. “I don’t think there’s anything I could change into…”   
You hummed. “Just take it off.”  
Richie’s head snapped in your direction, a playful smile forming on his face. “I have been _dying_ to hear you say that.” He pulled his shirt over his head, using a dry part to dry his bare chest.  
Your felt your heart begin to beat against your chest, blush rising to your cheeks. You hoped the dark would conceal this.  
“Like what you see?” Richie said, striking a pose.  
You giggled. “I can’t see much of anything, Tozier. Just lay down.”  
You both situated yourselves so that you were in the same position as before. You didn’t hesitate to run your hands over Richie’s bare torso. His skin was so soft and warm. You wished you could take off your shirt, too, but decided against it.  
“Did you have fun tonight?” Richie asked. He was so close, you could feel his warm breath on your face as he spoke. It would have been more romantic if it didn’t reek of alcohol.  
“Mhm, thank you.” You replied, and moved closer to him, trying to close all space between you two. “I’m so happy.”  
At this, he squeezed you tighter as well. “I’m glad.”  
“You make me happy.”  
He hummed in content.  
You reached your hand up to the back of his head and began running your fingers through his hair. “I don’t wanna sleep yet.” You said.  
He had closed his eyes when you began to run your fingers through his hair, but now he opened them. “You’re not tired?”  
“I just don’t want this to end.” You said quietly.  
He squeezed you tight again. “It’s not going to, N/N. I’ll always be here.”  
You smiled. “I’m so lucky I met you guys.”  
You knew you were being incredibly fucking cheesy, yet you couldn’t stop yourself. You wanted Richie to know how much you were appreciating this moment.  
“We’re the lucky ones.” He said.  
You kept running one hand through his hair, and placed the other against his chest, feeling his heartbeat. They brought you comfort. You really owed Bev for sticking up to Eddie.   
Before either of you could say anything else you had an idea, and you were too intoxicated to think twice before acting on it.  
You lifted your head and kissed Richie on the cheek.  
“W-What was that for?” He asked quietly after a moment.  
“A goodnight kiss.” You mumbled, feeling yourself begin to nod off.  
“Thank you…”  
“Goodnight, Richie.”  
“Goodnight, love.”  
And with that, you fell asleep in the arms of Richie Tozier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's a long one for yal! i hope you enjoy it, i love you all thank you for reading! xoxo


	7. Chapter 7

You woke up to the sun streaming through the blinds and a pounding headache. Immediately you groaned, lifting your hand to press against your head but hitting something else instead. Your eyes fluttered open and you were greeted by Richie’s sleeping face - you had totally forgotten you fell asleep beside him. You put your hands under the covers to wrap back around Richie, and pulled back in surprise when you touched bare skin.  
_Oh, fuck! That’s right! He took his shirt off last night because it smelled like shit…_ Slowly you tucked your arm back around him anyways, reveling in the fact that you were asleep beside a shirtless Richie right now. Normally you’d have left him sleeping, taking complete advantage of it and admiring him for as long as you could. But this morning, you felt like shit, and you were already getting bored fast. You shook his shoulder lightly, and whisper-yelled, “Richie!”  
Of course, he didn’t get up right away. It took a couple more shakes and whisper-yells for him to slowly begin to open his eyes.  
He seemed to have the same reaction as you upon waking up. With the hand that wasn’t under you, he rubbed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair with a groan.  
“Morning,” you said. “How are you feeling?”  
“Shitty.” He said bluntly. “How about you?”  
“Shitty.”   
The corners of his lips turned up at this, and (much to your dismay) he began to pull his arm out from under you, so he could prop himself up against his elbow.  
Once he was sat up he shut his eyes tightly for a moment, probably trying to ease the pounding in his head. You were sure Richie was feeling worse than you.  
Considering his state he also hadn’t really taken note of his clothing situation, or lack thereof. But once he sat up, and the blanket fell down to his waist, he noticed.  
“Oh, yeah…” He looked down at his torso. “Lucky night for you, huh?”  
You didn’t playfully punch him like you normally would’ve. Instead, you just grinned and buried your face in his chest. “Yep.”   
You lay like that for a little while, your face in Richie’s chest, one arm draped around him, and he with one arm draped around you, playing with your hair. He was the first to speak up. “Oh!” He pushed you over so that you were laying on your back.  
“What?” You stared up at him, a little upset about being pushed out of your position. You noticed he had his glasses on again.  
Instead of responding he just smiled at you, then leaned down and pressed a kiss to your forehead. You immediately blushed, but the only emotion evident on Richie’s face was pure amusement. “W-What was that for?!” You pushed his face away so he couldn’t see you, and then covered your own face. He laughed.  
“I owed you from last night. Eh, a good morning kiss.”  
You groaned in response.  
“I don’t know why you’re so embarrassed, Y/N. You were all _over_ me last night. I quite enjoyed it.”   
At this you pulled your hand away from your face, quick to defend yourself. “Hey! As if your arm wasn’t attached to my hip all night!”  
“I’m not denying it, Y/N,” Richie responded. “Just sayin’, I didn’t mind having it returned.”  
You pouted at him, and then heard a knock at the door.  
People knocking on doors always seemed to ruin your moments with Richie.  
“Morning, Losers!” It was Bev. “Mike and Stan are cooking breakfast, come downstairs!”  
You heard her walk away, and were eternally grateful that she didn’t decide to just throw the door open. That would’ve taken a _lot_ of explaining.  
You and Richie looked at each other. “I guess we better get going.” He said.  
You hummed, turning to hug him again. “I guess.” You muttered into his chest.  
“I’m gonna have to put that gross fucking shirt on again.” He sighed.  
“Yeah, but at least we can eat and get some Advil or something.” You finally peeled away from him, slowly pulling yourself up off the bed and throwing his shirt in his face.  
  
Before going downstairs you and Richie both took turns in the washroom. You washed your face and tried to look as presentable as possible, but you did still kinda look like shit. It was at least better than before, now that you had washed off the previous night’s makeup and freshened up a little. You were a little embarrassed that Richie saw you looking so gross.   
He went in after you and you waited for him to be done so you could go downstairs together. His shirt still absolutely reeked of alcohol, and it was probably even worse for him. You pretended not to notice.   
Everyone else was already sitting at the table chatting by the time you and Richie arrived. Seeing them made you feel a little better, because they seemed to be in the same state as you. All laying on the table or resting their head in their hands, pale with bags under their eyes. Save for Mike, Stan, and Eddie, who seemed like their normal selves. They all rather lazily acknowledged you and Richie, then got back to whatever conversations they were having.   
Mike’s dining room table was quite big, so there was more than enough room for you and Richie to sit beside each other, which you did. Almost immediately after you both plopped into your chairs, Richie’s hand was on your thigh. You rested your cheek in your hand, facing him, and raised an eyebrow. He didn’t really acknowledge it, just simply flashed you a smile.   
“So,” Bev spoke loud enough to get your attention. You turned to face her, and saw the mischievous look on her face. “How was your sleep?”  
You knew what she was getting at. She wasn’t very subtle, though, and all the Losers were now looking at you and Richie. His hand on your leg suddenly felt very heavy. You opened your mouth to answer, but of course, were cut off.  
“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but _I_ certainly had a rough night, I couldn’t sleep a wink beside a horny Y/N. She kept me up all night practically _begging _for my-”  
“Beep beep, Richie!” You stared at him with wide eyes and a red face.  
“Richie you’re disgusting,” Eddie rubbed his face - clearly it was too early for Richie’s bullshit.  
“What? I’m just being honest.” Richie feigned innocence.  
“Oh, fuck off! If anything _I_ couldn’t sleep because you smelt so fucking bad.” You replied, your hands now on your cheeks in an attempt to both hide and soothe the redness.  
Richie put his free hand to his chest. “I’m hurt, Y/N. I thought what we had last night was special.”  
You ignored him. “How about you guys?”  
You just sort of made small talk with the Losers while waiting for breakfast to be done. Nobody was really in the mood to talk about anything that required any thought.  
It was certainly worth the wait, though. Mike and Stan had practically prepared a buffet for everybody. There were pancakes, bacon, toast, and eggs. And plenty to go around. Mike had also placed a container of store-bought, cut-up fruits on the table which everyone snacked on while waiting for the other foods to cook. For a little while, you talked about the events of the night, catching up on what you had missed with one another. Apparently someone punched some kid named Henry Bowers, Ben got roped into a game of spin the bottle (which he then pussied out of), and Bill also got a drink spilled all over him (however, it was by Bev. Not some random stranger). After catching up and laughing and chatting as a group, conversations sort of died down to whoever you were sitting next to.   
And you were still sitting next to Richie. And despite the fact that everyone was eating now, his hand still stayed, for the most part, resting on your thigh. “Are you feeling any better?” He asked through a mouthful of food.  
You laughed. “Yes. How about you? I can guarantee you aren’t smelling any better.”  
He frowned. “Physically, yes. Emotionally, no.”   
“My head doesn’t hurt as much but I’m still probably gonna be in bed the rest of the day. I’m exhausted.”  
“In bed all day? Can I join?”  
“Well, I won’t get any rest if you’re there.”  
Richie raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”  
You leaned in close to him, inches away from his face. “Because you still smell like fucking shit.”  
“Hey!” He pressed a finger against your forehead and pushed you away as you laughed. “Just for that, I’m taking _this_ back.” He wiggled his fingers in front of your face, indicating he wasn’t going to rest his hand on your thigh anymore.  
You stared at him for a second, then rested your hand on his thigh. “I’ll just have to make do, I guess.” You shrugged.  
He quickly swatted your hand away. “Makin’ me feel like a fucking beta male Y/N, Jesus,” he said, his hand back on your leg.  
  
Once everyone was done eating, you got up to do the dishes, insisting that Mike and Stan shouldn’t have to do any. Eddie was the only one who got up to help you. He dried and put away the dishes once you were done washing them. At one point, you turned to look at Richie. He was already looking at you, and you pouted at him. Instead of getting up to help, he just flashed you a smile and a thumbs-up. You rolled your eyes and went back to doing the dishes, but could still feel his gaze in your direction.  
Once the tidying up and everything was all done, Eddie offered to give everyone a ride home, since nobody necessarily lived far away. You all bid Mike goodbye and thanked him for breakfast.  
In the car, you and Richie assumed your usual position. Immediately his arm was around you, and you rested your head on his shoulder. “I thought I smelled bad?” He said.  
“Yeah, but you always do.” You replied. “I’m kind of used to it by now.”  
He pretended to punch you, but then didn’t say anything else.  
  
When you got dropped off, Richie, Bev, and Eddie were still in the car. Unfortunately, you had been sandwiched between Bev and Richie, meaning Bev was right there, and you knew you wouldn’t be able to pull any ‘_goodbye kiss_’ shit with Richie. When Eddie pulled up outside your house, you undid your seatbelt and attempted to get up, but Richie’s grip around your shoulders was too strong. You didn’t really have much strength to begin with.  
You looked at him. “What’s the big deal?”  
“When are we gonna hang out next?”  
You smiled. “That eager to see me, huh?”  
“Always.”  
You pretended to think for a moment. “Do you have my number?”  
“No.”  
You looked around Eddie’s van, and miraculously found a pen tucked into the flap on the back of the seat in front of you.  
You grabbed Richie’s hand, flipping it over so his palm was exposed, and began writing. “You call me.” You said, putting the pen back where you got it.  
When you looked at him again he was staring at his hand. “Sound good?”  
He looked up at you, and his classic, goofy smile spread across his face. “Sounds good, babe.”  
You looked at both Bev and Richie as you said, “bye, guys.” On the way out you thanked Eddie as well for everything, and waved again as you shut the door. As you were closing it, you heard Richie saying to Bev, “can you believe I didn’t have my own girlfriend’s phone number?”  
On the walkway leading up to your house you smiled, thinking about the previous night. You were going to miss having someone to sleep beside tonight. Especially when that someone was Richie. You hoped he would call soon, because you couldn’t after that whole confident guise you had just put up. _“Do you have my number?” “You call me.” _You couldn’t believe you just did that. Maybe there was still a little bit of alcohol in your system that gave you a boost of confidence.  
Eddie, of course, being the sweetheart he is, waited for you to get inside before driving off. You opened your door and waved to your friends as they drove away.  
_God_, you hoped he would call soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank yal so much for all your comments it makes me so happy that people like this, i rlly can't thank you enough <3<3 this one's a little shorter but I have some good ideas for the next few chapters >:) thanks again!


	8. Chapter 8

When you awoke the next morning, you found yourself hoping Richie _wouldn’t_ call. You certainly hadn’t drunk enough to have a two-day long hangover, yet here you were, laying in bed with a throbbing headache, a runny nose, feeling like absolute death itself. There was no way you could leave the house today, and you definitely didn’t want anyone seeing you like this. Hopefully Bev wouldn’t come over, either.  
All you had done all morning was lay in bed and watch movies. Occasionally your mom would come upstairs and bring you soup or something, but for the most part, it was just laying in bed and feeling like shit.   
When you heard a knock at your bedroom door, you didn’t think anything of it. It was probably just your mom coming in to check on you. You croaked out a, “come in.”  
When Richie walked in, you scrambled into a sitting position, consequently being hit with a wave of nausea and a pounding in your head. You put your hand against the back of your head, both to soothe the aching and also attempt to flatten your hair, which you were sure was a disaster.  
He shut the door behind him and smiled, “hey, hot stuff.”  
“What are you doing here?”   
“Well,” he comes over and sits on the edge of the bed. “I called to see if you wanted to hang out today, but your mom answered and said you were sick. I don’t really have anything else to do and figured you could use the company - I get bored when I have to stay at home sick all day. So I asked your mom if I could come hang anyways and she said it was fine but if I get sick it isn’t her fault. So here I am, I guess.”  
You were mentally scolding your mother for not warning you of Richie coming over.  _ Why _ wouldn’t she have told you?  
He cut off your thoughts by leaning forwards and pressing the back of his hand against your forehead. “Damn, is it hot in here or is it just you?”  
You scoffed. “You couldn’t tell I was sick by the fact that I look like shit?”  
“You never look like shit.” He said, shaking his head. He crawled over you so that he was behind you, and began to lift up the covers to get in beside you. Your cheeks flushed as you recalled what you were wearing. You were  _ sick _ , so you were  _ warm _ , and all you had on was a baggy t-shirt and shorts. You hadn’t even bothered to put on a sports bra or anything considering the fact you didn’t think you’d be seeing anyone today (thanks, mom), so when Richie wrapped his arm around your torso you felt your face turn even redder.   
“You’re gonna get sick,” you said, sniffling.  
“Then you’ll just have to take care of me.” Richie replied.  
You rolled your eyes and turned to lay on your back, so that you could see him.  
“What makes you think I’d wanna do that?” You said jokingly.  
Now it was Richie’s turn to roll his eyes. “As if you aren’t looking for excuses to hang out with me, Y/N.”  
You grinned. “Guilty.”  
“Well, you’re lucky you have a crush on me and not Eddie; he’d never take care of you if you were sick. Actually, he’d probably not hang out with you for a whole week to avoid getting sick himself.”  
You smirked. “Who says I have a crush on you?”  
“I’m kind of irresistible, Y/N,” Richie replied.  
You shook your head. “If you say so.”  
You turned to sneeze, and when you faced Richie again he was frowning. “Do you need anything?” He asked. “If I’m here I may as well be useful.”  
You smiled at him and put your hand on his cheek. He closed his eyes. “If I do I’ll let you know  
  
You two didn’t do much. After all, there wasn’t much you could do. You watched some TV for a little while and held each other in comfortable silence, but watching TV was all you’d done all  _ day _ . It was getting boring. Richie had been up a couple of times to refill your water or get you medicine, but you didn’t think you’d left your bed once today. You rolled over to face Richie. “I’m bored.” You told him.   
He looked at you. “What do you wanna do?”  
“I don’t know, but I’ve been in bed all  _ day _ . I wanna get up and do something.” You began to sit up, but Richie pulled you back down.  
“Hey now. I don’t think you’re in any position to be up and doing shit.” He said.  
“But Richie-e-e,” you whined. “Can I at least sit up?”  
He put his hand to your forehead, frowning. “You’re still really warm.” He paused. “But I guess there’s no harm in just sitting. Don’t try and stand or anything just yet.” He sat up first, so he could help guide you.  
Slowly you pulled yourself up. You were still feeling a little embarrassed about your current situation, being such a mess in front of Richie. But, you were able to sit, which was nice. He sat beside you, his arm around you. “How does that feel?”  
“A nice change of pace.” You replied. You smiled at him. “Who would’ve known you had such a soft side?”  
He smiled back. “Only for you, babe.”   
You glanced around your room, noticing the pile of art supplies in the corner. You turned to face Richie - he was so close, and already staring right at you. “Can you get that stuff?” You pointed towards the supplies. He was practically up before you were even done your sentence. “Oh, yeah, sure.”  
He brought everything over to you, dumping it on the bed. You moved from the side of the bed so that you were sitting cross-legged in the middle of it. He mimicked your position opposite you. “Let’s paint each other.” You said, rifling through your things.  
“Huh?” He cocked his head. You flipped through an old sketchbook, landing on a blank page and handing it to him. Then, you fished one out for yourself. “Do you have any better ideas?” You asked.  
“No, this is fine. I just know already I won’t be able to do you justice - your beauty can’t be captured on paper.”  
“Shut up, Richie.”  
You both took different routes. Richie immediately busted out the palette and paints, completely free handing it. You could tell he was focused, though. It was cute.  
You, on the other hand, had decided to start with a rough sketch, which you didn’t mind on its own. You almost wanted to keep it and do the painting on a whole other page. But Richie was gonna finish faster since he skipped a step, so you just decided to get to work.  
You and Richie kept looking up at each other, studying each other’s features so that you could nail your portraits. It wasn’t weird, though. How could it be with Richie?   
“This is, like, a dream come true for you, huh, Y/N? Getting an excuse to stare at me? Is that why you wanted to do this?”  
“If this turns out bad, it’s because I couldn’t get your features right because you wouldn’t shut up.” You said, not looking up from your painting.  
  
It didn’t take too long for either of you to finish, and of course, Richie  _ didn’t _ shut up. But you didn’t think yours turned out that bad. It certainly could’ve been worse. That you’d learn as soon as you saw Richie’s.  
You counted down and showed each other at the same time, and while Richie’s expression fell slightly in awe, you had trouble stifling your laughter.  
He quickly turned his back around to look at it, looking up at you and your painting, then back down at his. “What the fuck? It didn’t look this bad just five seconds ago I fucking swear!”  
You were fully giggling now, moreso at his reaction, but still in part to the painting. “It looks good!” You said through laughs.  
“Oh, you fuck off! Fucking Picasso!” He grabbed yours from you and looked at it. “I’m keeping this.”   
“It’s yours, Tozier. Free of charge.”  
You grabbed his, staring at it. While you  _ were _ just laughing at it, you still thought it was sweet. A painting Richie Tozier made of you. Who’d have ever thought that would happen?  
“It’s not  _ that _ bad is it?” He asked.  
You smiled at him and put your hand on his cheek. “I love it.”  
When you pulled away, you noticed a big splat of paint on Richie’s cheek where your hand was. Your eyes widened, and you looked down at your hand. Some must have gotten on you and you never realized.  
“You just got fucking paint on me, huh?” He touched his cheek and saw the evidence on his index finger. There was no hesitation before Richie picked up his paintbrush and got you right back, swiping down your face.  
You gasped, then began moving the supplies off the bed to avoid a mess. “Come on, I don’t wanna get paint on my bedsheets.” You said.  
“I can think of better liquids to get on your bedsheets,” Richie replied, winking.  
Just as you placed the last supply on the ground, you grabbed your paintbrush, dipped into some paint, reached up, and coated Richie’s nose in black paint.  
You quickly put your brush down to  _ actually _ avoid a mess, knowing Richie would be quick to react. And he was. The brush was barely out of your hand before he pounced on you, pinning you to the bed with his hands wrapped around your wrists.  
The sudden impact threw you into a coughing fit, and immediately Richie let go so you could pull your shirt over your mouth and wheeze into it. The whole time you were coughing he was saying, “ーfuck, fuck, fuck, Y/N, I’m sorry, I forgot you were sickー”  
When you were finally done, you began to shush him. “It’s okay, Rich. I forgot I was sick, too, to be honest.” You coughed a little again.  
“Yeah, but that was stupid of me.”   
“It’s okay, really. I’m sure you can think of a way to make it up to me.” You smiled.  
Richie frowned. “God there’s  _ so _ many jokes I could make right now but I still feel too bad.”  
“Lucky me.”  
  
After that, it was just back to laying in bed, watching movies, and Richie getting up on occasion to get things for you. And you chatted from time to time, of course. As it got later, though, you began to grow tired. You fought to stay awake, not wanting your time with Richie to end, but it certainly didn’t help that he was holding you, and he was so  _ warm  _ and  _ soft _ and he kept running his fingers through your hair…  
And you were out like a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so excited for the next few chapters eeee. until then enjoy some fluff :3c thank you as always for reading!!! love u all so much xoxo


	9. Chapter 9

You awoke the next morning to the sound of.. snoring? In your sleepy state, you mistook the noise for an alarm clock. Nobody in your house snored while they slept, and even if they did, their rooms were all too far away to hear. So, it must’ve been an alarm. Lazily you began swatting around, trying to find the source of the noise. It wasn’t until you both heard and felt the slap of skin that you actually opened your eyes. The snoring came to an abrupt stop as you did so, and it didn’t take long for Richie to open his eyes, too.   
“Richie?!” You were in a similar position to when you slept together at Mike’s, pressed against Richie with his arms wrapped tight around you.   
“Mm, good morning to you, too, Y/N. There are nicer ways to wake me up, you know.” He rubbed his eyes and yawned.   
You smiled. “Like what, Tozier?”  
Richie looked down at you with a cocked eyebrow. He stared at you for a moment, as if thinking, then shook his head and laughed. “It’s too early for that.”  
You only pressed further. “For _what_, _Tozier_?”   
You raised your eyebrow at him, and again he took a moment to stare at you; deciding whether or not he should accept your challenge.   
But it’s Richie Tozier. Of fucking course he did.   
Richie put his free hand under your chin, forcing you to stay looking at him. You suddenly realized how close he was as the arm that was wrapped around you pulled you even closer. “You _really_ want me to tell you how I want you to wake me up, Y/N? You want me to tell you all the things I want you to do to me?”  
Your heart was pounding in your chest, and you were sure Richie could feel it, too. He was only inches away so he also _definitely_ saw the blush on your cheeks but God, he’s so _cute_, and from here you could see all the little freckles adorning his face-  
-_Focus!_ Richie’s waiting for you to react. Fuck. What do you even say to that? Yes, of course, absolutely? But what if he was just fucking with you, like always?   
You braced yourself before replying, trying to silence the millions of thoughts that were flying through your head even though it had only been a couple of seconds since he spoke.   
“Mhm.”  
_DidIreallyjustfuckingsaythat?  
_The corners of his lips turned up. “It's too early for this. I’ll tell you some other time,” he said, now smiling. His hand left your chin & wrapped around you again. You buried your face in his chest, then tried to push him away. “You’re a stupid fucking tease, Trashmouth.”  
He laughed, and said, “I take it you’re feeling better?”  
You hadn’t really thought about it, and that was because you _were_ feeling better. You woke up today totally back to normal. “Yeah, I guess I am. Wouldn’t be without your care, though.”  
“Well, that’s a given.”   
For the umpteenth time this morning, you and Richie simply stared at each other. You loved being so close to him, because you could see every detail on his face. Every line, mark, freckle, crease - it was all there, and you loved all of it. It was especially easy to see when he didn’t have his glasses on, like now. But being so close to him made you so nervous. If you could see all of that on him, then he could also see it all on you - but it wasn’t as charming on you. You were afraid he wouldn’t like it. “Do you wanna get out and do something, now that I’m not sick?” You asked.   
He pulled your head into his chest, tightening his grip around you. “Mm, in a minute.”  
You happily obliged.   
  
It ended up being much longer than a minute, naturally. But you didn’t mind. You were in no rush. You lay together and didn’t say much, just enjoyed each other’s presence. You liked being so close to him and feeling his heartbeat, and the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Meanwhile, he ran his fingers up and down your back. It was so calming you almost fell asleep again.   
You decided to let him make the call on when to wake up, so it was probably an hour of cuddling before he actually said something.   
“Did you have anywhere you wanted to go?” Was how he broke the silence, sounding sleepy.   
“We can stay here if you want, Rich.” You moved so you could look at him. His eyes were half-closed. “You seem tired. Did you sleep okay?”  
“My best sleeps are with you,” he said, pulling you back into his chest. “Which is surprising. When we first slept beside each other I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to sleep.”  
“Why’s that?” You asked.   
You could _feel_ the smile crawl on to his face. “Too horny.”  
“Alright, get up, lover boy. You have officially ruined it.” You disentangled yourself from him and sat up. When you looked over your shoulder at him he was pouting. “Stop pouting! You can still lay here for a little bit, I have to get in the shower.” You said, hopping off your bed and heading to the door.   
“Can I join?” Richie asked, sitting up and patting around your end table for his glasses. You waited at the door for him to find them and put them on. “My parents are home.”  
“So you’re saying I could if they weren’t?”  
You opened your door, stepping out. As you were closing it, you simply replied with, “be right back!”  
As you shut the door you let out a quiet sigh. Today has already been so much to handle, and it’s still morning. You’d basically cuddled with Richie all morning, and not to mention the fact some of the first words he said to you today were basically about how he wanted to fuck you.   
After that, there was no telling what the rest of the day would hold, and so instead of ruminating, you cleared your mind and got in the shower.   
  
When you got out of the shower, you’d felt even better. Washing away the sickness of yesterday made you feel so much cleaner, and that (as well as how eager you were to get in in the first place) made you forget about a change of clothes completely. When it did finally dawn on you, obviously you panicked. But then you realized that maybe this wasn’t so bad. You stared at yourself in the mirror, dripping wet, nothing but a small towel wrapped around your figure. You didn’t look all that bad, especially now that you were freshened up. And Richie was _sure_ to comment on it. You adjusted yourself a bit, playing with your hair and making sure you looked good before stepping out of the bathroom. You quickly returned to your room, trying to avoid a run-in with your mother, who would definitely find you a change of clothes before allowing you into your room - alone, might I add - with a boy, looking like that.   
You stepped in and shut the door behind you. You noticed that Richie was looking at the paintings you two had done the night before. “Finally! How long does it take to - holy fuck.” He cut himself short when he finally looked up to see you. You just stood there for a second, staring at him, one hand clutching the towel at the top. Were you to let go, you’d be completely exposed.   
“I forgot to bring a change of clothes in with me.” You said sheepishly, suddenly having second thoughts about if this was a good thing after all.   
Richie grinned. “I certainly don’t mind.”  
You rolled your eyes and retrieved clothes from your closet. When you turned to face Richie, he was still staring at you.   
“I have to get dressed. Glasses off and eyes shut!” You told him. He put his hands up defensively, then took his glasses off and covered his eyes. Quickly, you changed.   
“Okay, I’m decent.” You said, sitting down at your desk to do your makeup.   
“I thought you looked better before.” Richie said.  
You sighed, “of course you did.”  
You heard Richie slide off your bed as you began your routine. “What are you doing?” He asked.  
“Makeup.”  
He pulled up a chair and sat at the side of your desk, folding his arms on top and placing his chin on them. He watched you. “Are you gonna do that the whole time?” You asked.  
“Yep.” He said, his eyes still not leaving you.  
You simply shook your head and continued.  
  
The whole time Richie seemed to be watching rather intently. He actually didn’t say too much, other than the odd question about a product you were using. You thought it was cute how intrigued he was by it.  
When you were done, you said, “you should let me do your makeup sometime.”  
Richie perked up. “What?”  
“You heard me. I think it’d be fun.”  
“You don’t have to pretend like you wanna do my makeup just to get close to my face, Y/N.”  
“Shut up. I actually do.”  
Richie paused before responding, as if deciding whether to say something witty or not. He decided not to. “We’ll see.”  
You stood up. “Alright! I’m ready to go. Do you need anything?”  
Richie thought for a moment. “Do you have an extra toothbrush laying around or something?”  
“Oh, yeah. You can just use mine if you want. It’s (f/c).”  
“Okay, be right back.”  
  
After Richie was done freshening himself up in the bathroom, you both left your house. “So, for real this time, _did_ you have somewhere you wanted to go? Or something you wanted to do?” Richie asked as he grabbed his bike.  
“Well, before anything, do you wanna grab something to eat? What’s the best breakfast place around here?”  
Richie smiled. “I know just the place.”  
Like always, you hopped on the back of his bike. You were glad that this became a thing, instead of just riding on your own bikes. It was another excuse to be closer to him.  
Richie pulled up to a cute cafe on main street. You kind of recognized it - you’d definitely walked or rode past it before, but had never really acknowledged it.   
“Cafe Leblanc?” You said, scooting off the back of Richie’s bike.  
“Mhm. I love it here. Have you been yet?”  
“No. I hadn’t really planned on it, either. It doesn’t seem wildly popular.”  
“It isn’t. That’s what makes it good, though.”  
Richie held the door open for you and you both went inside. There was few people there, and they were mostly old folk anyways. As soon as the barista looked towards you two, Richie was speaking. “Hey, Josh! How’s it goin’?”  
The man - Josh - smiled. “Hi, Richie. Business is booming as per usual. Who’s this?”  
Richie threw an arm around your shoulder, and you smiled sheepishly. “My girlfriend, Y/N.”  
“Oh? Is that so? Well it’s nice to meet you, Y/N. What can I get you two today?” Josh said. You decided against correcting Richie. It would’ve just been a bigger hassle to do so. And besides, you didn’t mind people thinking you were his girlfriend.  
“Hmm. We’ll take some pancakes. And a chocolate milkshake, please. Two straws!”  
You giggled. What did you expect?  
Josh smiled, looking back and forth between you and Richie. “Coming right up. Go take a seat.”  
Richie led you to a table by the window, so you could see what was happening downtown while you ate. “Very cliche, Tozier.” You said as soon as you were seated.  
“What?”  
“_A chocolate milkshake, please. Two straws!_” You mimicked him.  
“Okay, one, I don’t sound like that. And two, it isn’t _cliche_, it’s _romantic_.”  
“I’m swooning.”  
“Do you have any better first date ideas?” He asked.  
That caught you off guard a little bit. Is that what this was? A _date_? Not that you minded, obviously, but you could never tell when Richie was joking or not. You liked him so much and you didn’t want to accidentally spill your feelings all for him to laugh in your face and tell you he was just joking.  
You picked up a sugar packet and began playing with it. “I guess not.”  
  
You chatted about whatever until the food arrived. And when it did, you had to admit, it did look really good. Richie clearly came here for a reason.  
You thanked Josh and both got to eating. It tasted just as good as it looked. You and Richie didn’t speak much, but that was never awkward. There was the chatter of other customers and the radio playing to fill the silence, anyways.  
You both ate all the pancakes, and were down to just the milkshake now.  
“That was so good.” You told him.  
“Mhm. I know. You’re welcome for showing you this hidden treasure of Derry.”  
“I will never forget.” You said, leaning forward to take a sip of the drink.  
At the same time, so did he.  
You stopped, staring at him before continuing. He mimicked you. When you leaned forward again towards the straw, so did he. A small smile formed on your lips, but you continued anyways and took a sip at the same time he did.  
When you were done you leaned back, saying, “_very_ romantic, Tozier.”  
“What can I say? I’m just a romantic guy.”  
When you were done the drink you went to the front counter to pay. You reached into your bag for your wallet, but Richie stopped you. “What are you doing? What kind of date would I be if I made you pay?”  
“Are you sure?” You asked.  
“Of course. I want to.” Richie turned back to the front and paid for your meal. You stood behind him, finding yourself yet again trying to fight down the blush on your cheeks before he noticed. At this point, you’d think you’d be good at it. “_I want to.” He said…  
_Once you had both left and were seated on his bike, you spoke up before he took off. “Thank you, Richie. I liked that.”  
“Hm? Of course, baby. Anything for you.”   
You wrapped your arms around him and leaned your cheek against his back as he began pedaling, a smile on your face.  
God, everyday you could feel yourself falling harder for Richie. You loved everything about him. You knew that you would have to confess your feelings eventually, because everything was starting to build up, and with all this play-flirting… You knew you wouldn’t be able to take it much longer. It felt as if the two of you were just __dancing around what you actually wanted to say.  
You hoped that was true, at least. You hoped he was in the same boat as you. And you had a funny feeling you would soon find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't LOVE this chapter but i been so busy recently it feels like i haven't written in forever i hope it's okay! i think the next few chapters r gonna be fun to write >:) i love u all so much kisses


	10. Chapter 10

Richie took you straight to the clubhouse like you asked. As soon as the bike was stopped, you raced to the ladder to beat Richie down and steal the hammock. Clearly he had no idea what your intentions were, because he just kind of watched you scurry into the hole as he threw his bike somewhere off to the side.   
Once he finally got down and saw you sprawled across the hammock, hands behind your head, he realized. “Oh, now I see what you were doing.” He said, adjusting his glasses. “You really think you getting in first is going to stop me from coming in?” He crawled into the hammock facing the opposite way you were so that your feet were at each other’s heads. It took a little bit of clambering, and you almost falling out of the hammock, for him to get comfortable, but he finally did.   
You sighed. “Happy, Tozier?”  
“Always am when I’m with you.” He grinned.  
“You can be a real romantic when you’re not being absolutely feral, y’know?”  
“For you, I try.”  
You smiled at him, then, not knowing what else to say, turned your head to the side and admired the clubhouse. You took note of all the little things Ben had added to make it homier - the posters, the magazines, the toys. You thought it was cute.  
But you didn’t get to dwell on it for long. Richie was hitting your face with his foot.  
“Pay attention to me.” He said.  
You swatted his leg away. “Entertain me then, bastard.”  
“Do you want me to take my shirt off or something?”  
“I mean  _ yeah _ but I always do, so what’s that have to do with anything?” You said, and at this he raised an eyebrow. For Richie, making jokes like that with you was easy, because all you ever really did in response was say “shut up, Richie” and move on. But when you said stuff like that to him, he took it as a challenge. Who could get the other the most riled up.  
His eyes never left yours as he undid a button of his shirt. You didn’t dare to move, and his fingers shifted to the next one, unbuttoning that as well. As you watched his hands slowly make their way down another button, you spoke up. “Stop,” you said, giggling a little bit (surely out of nervousness). You hit his hand with your foot.  
He arched his eyebrow and undid the next button anyways. “Make me.”  
__ Fuck.  
You didn’t really have time to think. His shirt would be fully off soon, and of course, he was already moving to undo the next button.  
You leapt up, the hammock swinging wildly beneath you. You straddled Richie and grabbed his wrists, pinning them to each side of his head. Whether out of shock or some other reason, he didn’t seem to put up much of a fight.  
Once you had both settled, he grinned at you. You pouted. “Win-win situation for you, huh?”  
“You gonna do something about it?”  
Your heart was basically leaping out of your chest. What the fuck were you supposed to do now?  
In a bout of panic and unsurety, you snatched the glasses from Richie’s face and fell back into your original position. You sure as hell weren’t going to be the one to make the first move.  
He sat up to rest on his elbows, looking at you and squinting. “What the hell kind of tactic is that?”  
You placed the glasses on your face, the world and the boy in front of you becoming a creamy blur. “Distraction.”  
You watched the blurry shape that was Richie lean closer. You felt your breath hitch in your throat as he slowly crawled on top of you, mimicking the position you were previously in. Though it was still quite hard to see, you could tell that he had undone  _ just _ enough buttons earlier to make you flustered. Yes, you  _ had _ slept with him while he was shirtless, but even the thought of that brings a blush to your cheeks.  
__ Fuck, stop thinking about that or you’re gonna blush and he’s gonna notice.  
He gently grabbed both your hands and weaved his fingers through yours, then pinned them on either side of your head.  
Well, now you were  _ definitely _ blushing. Hard.  
“Y/N, I’m sure you look  _ awfully _ pretty in my glasses, but I kind of can’t fucking see you at all.” He said.  
Without saying anything you slowly pulled your hand away from his (he didn’t have a very tight grip) and took the glasses off your face, resting them on the bridge of his nose.  
He blinked a couple of times, then simply stared at you for a moment, as if in admiration. His free hand moved from beside your head to cup your cheek, his eyes never leaving yours.  
Your heart was fucking racing.   
He ran his thumb over your cheek a couple of times, his gaze seemingly fixated on something right  _ beside  _ your face. He wasn’t looking you directly in the eyes.   
Every second of this felt like an  _ eternity _ , and just as you were about to say something, his thumb stopped moving, his eyes flickered over to meet yours, and his lips crashed into yours.  
It couldn’t have felt shorter. You don’t know how long he actually kissed you for, because you were so immediately overcome with joy that you kind of blacked out. The thought that he may feel the same way you do was enough to make you light-headed as is. You felt like you could be dreaming.  
__ God, please don’t let this be a dream.  
When he pulled away, he seemed to have the same look in his eyes that you were sure you did. Just sort of a content, glazed-over look. After a moment, it turned into one of slight panic.  
“W-Was that okay?” He asked. “I guess I, uh, probably should have asked that  _ before  _ I kissed you but, y’know, I didn’t want to-”  
You cut him off by running your fingers through his hair on the back of his head and bringing him down to kiss you again.   
It was longer this time. Your hand moved from the back of his head to be pressed flat against his chest. You loved feeling his skin beneath your fingers & being able to trace the outline of his ribs. Everything about him was so soft and warm, you found yourself completely enveloped by him. It felt like all of your senses were in overdrive and they were all being stimulated by one thing: Richie.  
You loved how it felt.  
He pulled away, but not very far. His hand left your face only to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, then returned to you. His cheeks were a tinge pink and he had the shyest smile as his eyes scanned your face. You gave him a quick kiss, and his shy smile grew into his signature goofy grin.   
“I like you a lot.” You said, feeling your cheeks heat up as you said it.  
“I sure hope so.”  
You rolled your eyes, and instead of saying anything else, you put your hand on his cheek and kissed him again. Immediately he reciprocated. The kiss felt different this time. You were both a bit more… needy. But were either of you really to blame? It felt like you had been waiting for this forever. Richie was quick to slip his hand under your shirt to feel your bare skin against his fingertips. He never went past your waist… although you wouldn’t mind if he did.  
You tangled your fingers in his hair, which elicited a small groan from him. Hearing that only gave you more confidence, and you let your free hand roam his torso. His grip on your waist tightened, and in the back of your mind you wondered if it would leave bruises.  
You tried to move your hand lower but found it getting caught on his shirt. You fumbled to undo the rest of the buttons, but before you could he pulled away.   
His eyes searched yours for a moment. “You’re driving me crazy.” He said, his hand sliding up your back. You hummed, both in response to what he said and out of content at the feeling of his hand against your bare back. You kissed him again and smiled. A smile played on his lips, as well.  
His thumb moved across your cheek, and was he… blushing? “You’re way too pretty for me.”  
Yet again, you kissed him.  
You loved doing that.  
“That’s not true, Rich,” you pouted and placed both your hands on his cheeks. “You’re so handsome.”  
You felt like there was so much more you could say.  _ I could look at you forever, I’ve been daydreaming of this moment since we met, I can’t believe I’m so lucky _ … But you still didn’t totally know where his head was at, and what the kiss meant to him. So you left it at that.  
He had a warm smile on his face, and he looked like he was about to say more, but was interrupted by his watch beeping. You both wore a confused expression, but his quickly turned to one of unfortunate realization. “Ah, shit…” he mumbled to himself as he looked at the time.  
“My parents like me home pretty early when I spend the night at someone’s house. I also never told them I was staying the night, so they probably think I’m dead in a ditch or something.”  
You pouted. “Are you doing anything tomorrow?”  
He smiled. “Nope.”  
“Come over?”  
“Anything for you, babe.”  
You smiled and kissed him. You thought maybe you could kiss him for the whole rest of your life and not get tired of it. Slowly, you sat up, trying not to sway the hammock too much. You adjusted your hair - which you were sure was a mess - and then stood up. You turned to face Richie. “Ready to go, lover boy?”  
He sat on the edge of the hammock, smiling up at you. He grabbed your hand and pulled you down into a kiss. After pulling away you placed both your hands on his cheeks. “You’re so cute.” You squished his face up and he laughed, swatting your hands away and standing up beside you. You looked up at him, neither of you moving.   
“I wish you didn’t have to go.” You said, pulling him into a hug.  
He wrapped his arms around you. “Me neither, baby.” He pulled away and put a hand under your chin, lifting your head so you could look at him. “But I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”  
You smiled. “Yeah.”  
He kissed you again. Every time he did it felt like fireworks were going off in your chest.  __ Is this really happening? Am I really this lucky?  
  
You both left the clubhouse, and when you got on the back of his bike to ride home, you hugged him a little closer than normal.  
He pedaled rather slowly, and you felt like you were in a dream as you two rode on, watching the city of Derry pass by. You thought you were probably the only person in the whole world who felt lucky to live here.   
Life sure was beautiful through rose-colored glasses.  
When Richie pulled up to your house, you felt your stomach drop. You didn’t want him to leave. You hoped he wouldn’t tell his parents about you two kissing, and maybe they’d let him come over for another sleepover sometime in the near future.  
You hopped off the back of his bike, and he turned to face you. “Don’t keep me waiting tomorrow.” You said, feeling a bit awkward.  
He smiled. “Of course not, babe.”  
You put your hand on his cheek, leaned in, and kissed him. You tried to pull away after a moment, but Richie wrapped his arm around your waist and pulled you into him.  
When he finally did pull away, he had his big, goofy smile on his face. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
“Mhm.” You gave him another quick peck before turning and bounding towards your house. You truly couldn’t remember the last time you felt this happy, and you were sure your mom would question you as soon as you walked in. You just couldn’t stop smiling.  
Before walking inside, you turned and saw Richie was still there. You waved at him and he waved back, and then you shut the door, grinning and reflecting back on one of the best days of your life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! I'm sorry this week's update was so late, I usually like to have them out for Sunday or Monday night but I just kept re-writing this one over and over again. I kept worrying I was making it too fast-paced, but I think I'm happy with this! It's 2am for me now but I was getting this done tonight if it was the last thing I did. thank you so much to everyone who reads this and comments! it makes me so so happy to see and motivates me to write more :) so thank you from the bottom of my heart. anyways, sorry for the long note, thank you for reading and i love you all!! :) <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! It's been ages since I wrote anything at all, let alone a fic. I don't know if I've ever wrote one actually. Please, please leave constructive criticism or suggestions for what you'd like to see! Thank you lovelies! <3


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